OVC Video Clip

View a 2 minute video clip about the Orphans and Vulnerable Children Initiative in and around Eldoret, Kenya

Mother & Baby Hospital

Maternal and infant mortality rates in Kenya remain among the highest in the world. The solution to this problem requires a comprehensive, integrated response from the tertiary care center to the rural village. The IU-Kenya partnership is working with traditional birth attendants in remote villages to promote appropriate, relevant prevention measures.

The Riley Mother and Baby Hospital was opened in 2009 on the campus of Moi Teaching and Referral Hospital. This hospital provides state-of-the-art care, including operating rooms for Caesarean deliveries and the first newborn intensive care unit in East Africa. It is managed entirely by Kenyan faculty and staff, will serve as the referral center for Western Kenya and the primary hospital for the indigent population of Eldoret, and will be the site for training the region’s healthcare providers on obstetrical and neonatal care

See more photos of infants and children. Many babies in one bed

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Orphans and Vulnerable Children

An initiative to strengthen the capacity of families and communities to care for orphans and vulnerable children

The AMPATH Orphan and Vulnerable Children (OVC) program has enrolled over 14,000 children within five AMPATH clinic areas in the past three years. The OVC program aims to reinforce AMPATH's medical and other support services' holistic and multi-disciplinarian approach. It strengthens the capacity of families and communities to care for and protect orphans and vulnerable children through prolonging the lives of those HIV-infected and providing economic, psychosocial and educational support. Our emphasis is assisting orphans within an individual family and community setting as we believe it allows the child to socialize, learn and address their challenges within their own environment.

AMPATH believes in community ownership of the OVC program. The community participates by identifying the orphans, caregivers, community health workers, and land to be cultivated. As an entry point into a community, we utilize existing community structures such as chief barazas, churches, schools, and hospitals. We also partner with government and faith-based organizations in provision of OVC services. Services provided include the provision of school fees, school uniforms, nutritional counseling and food assistance, medical expenses, clothing, bedding, shelter renovations, cultivation and planting of crops on 150 acres of land, caregiver workshops, capacity building of community leaders, and other OVC basic needs.

See photos and stories of Kenyan families in need.