Community Resource and Research Centers
G.R.A.C.E. is committed to helping the community partners create resource centers that provide health information to any interested person. This requires a variety of approaches that include books, videotapes, discussion groups, and computer-based information. For example, the principals of G.R.A.C.E. introduced Community Health Information Centers (CHICs), now distributed throughout Kenya, that provide the following benefits to local communities:
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Natasha Martin with youth participants at the Mombasa Integrated training workshop, March 2001. Their involvement was the beginning of the ‘CHICs’ program which has now grown to 18 sites in Kenya Medical information libraries - Age-specific, AIDS prevention tutorials to help young people avoid the disease
- Practical information about prenatal and child care
- Access to the Internet and email for health professionals in some areas
- Nutritional topics
- Other region-specific health concerns such as malaria and tuberculosis
Natasha Martin relates the origins of CHICs:
"I invited Gary Selnow of WiRED International to attend one of our Integrated Training workshops and spend a few days there working with a group of young people who had never seen a computer before. The results of that were extraordinary and led to funding from the NIH Office of AIDS Research for more sites."
Reef Staff Report
Butula Youth Education Network (YEN), 2005
In 2005, YEN Butula conducted outreaches across the division reaching 10,935 individuals. The group has been, and is, committed to reaching out to members of this community with relevant health information that is biased towards HIV/AIDS and behavior change among the sexually active age bracket. REEP runs a Community Health Information Center (CHIC) that provides similar information within its resource center. The information is packaged in CD-ROMs that are accessed through computers.
There has been a positive response, especially among the youth, mainly due to their ability to read and write. Too many engagements and a high level of illiteracy have excluded part of the population. YEN is filling the gap by reaching out to the community with educational video shows coupled with discussions: to make the gray parts clear. YEN has seen to it that both the illiterate, and the literate (but unable to visit the CHIC) receive at least some health information in a way that is both entertaining and comprehensive.
The response has been overwhelming. We have received numerous invitations from different focus groups, provincial administration officers, schools, and churches. The main focus of our information is HIV/AIDS, other STIs, and behaviour change. We also address other factors contributing to HIV infection such as cultural issues, legal rights of the vulnerable groups and gender.
Read about GRACE's acquisition of ten acres
for a Community Resource and Research Center