Irish Franciscan Missionary of St. Joseph, Sr. Bernadette Nealon from Limerick city, has been presented by WiRED International with its Health Education Champion Award for Outstanding Leadership in the Community Health Education Programme in the Kisumu region of western Kenya.
WiRED – short for World Information Resources for Education and Development – a US-
based non-profit organisation has been delivering medical and health education to conflict-
affected and under-developed regions since 1997. It provides health education by delivering
programmes, equipment, and co-ordinated instruction in remote regions across 15 countries.
It has supported the KUAP Pandipieri Health Programme in Kisumu for the past 15 years.
KUAP (Kisumu Urban Apostolate Programme) is a non-governmental organisation. It is a
leading humanitarian organisation dedicated to fighting poverty and social justice placing
special emphasis on investing in children, youth, women, and other vulnerable members of
the community in Pandipieri.
Sr. Bernadette arrived in Kenya in 1998 to work with disadvantaged communities. “I came to
work in the Archdiocese of Kisumu” she says, and “was given the mandate to work in the
informal settlements of Kisumu city. I was shocked at the living conditions of the people, but
I was overjoyed at their joyfulness, spontaneity and the care they gave to those in need from
the little they had.”
In 2002, the Community Health Information Centre was established starting with a focus on
HIV/AIDS, and has expanded to a broad health education programme on a wide range of
critical topics. Sr. Bernadette uses WiRED’s health education programmes to train community health workers, who, in turn, train community members in home-based care for bed-ridden clients and also trains people who are caring for children at home.
The centre provides facilities for students from medical schools to use the modules to conduct
their research and prepare for their exams. Students can study on their own at home, then visit
the centre to be tested on the material. Many live a long way off, so access through the
download programme stands to expand the reach of these health education courses
considerably.
Professor Gary Selnow, Executive Director of WiRED said: “I have been working with Sr.
Bernadette and the staff at Pandipieri since 2002, and I have seen the remarkable outcomes of
her dedication first hand. She is a blessing to the Kenyan people and a testament to the
extraordinary impact one person can have on the lives of so many disadvantaged folks.”
Gary points out that “our programme in Kisumu would never have materialised or expanded
without Sr. Bernadette and her team. Together, they organised our current health outreach
programmes that have trained so many people through the facilities at Pandipieri and
Obunga.
They have made WiRED’s community health training programme a success beyond
our imagination – last year graduating more than 130 people with certificates for completing
thousands of modules available at both locations and in our online Health Learning Centre.”
Another member of the KUAP – Pandipieri team, Lillian Dajoh, who is a graduate of the
Community Health Information Centre and is now its co-ordinator was also presented with a
similar ward recognising her contribution to the work of the centre.
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