Champions at work: How CHPs help mothers and babies thrive in slums

Ruth Wiza was in despair, bleeding heavily just three months into her pregnancy. Unaware that she was pregnant, she had been self-medicating at home, thinking the bleeding was just her period. Her feet had begun to swell and she feared for her life.

As she contemplated her next move, Beatrice Daisy Asige, a Community Health Promoter (CHP), knocked on her door, a visit that would ultimately save her life.Asige quickly identified danger signs in Wiza’s pregnancy and referred her to Bahati Health Centre, where scans revealed that the pregnancy was at risk.

At the facility, urgent interventions were carried out, stabilising both Wiza and her unborn child. Today, Wiza is eight months pregnant, attending Antenatal Clinics (ANC) regularly and preparing for delivery. “Without the CHP, I would have lost this pregnancy. She saved me,” says Wiza, a resident of Kiambiu slum.

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