The Turkana County Health Promotions technical working team has reviewed and approved the updated Turkana Social and behavior Change (SBC) Strategy 2026–2030, paving the way for its expected launch by the end of 2026.
The fifth review workshop brought together county health officials and development partners to align the strategy with the local context through a detailed assessment of its content, messaging and visual materials.
The team also established the Health Promotion Advisory Committee (HPAC) and developed Information, Education and Communication (IEC) materials on play and nurturing care.
The workshop was supported by the Turkana County Government in partnership with Amref Health Africa’s Tucheze Tustawi Project, with funding from the LEGO Foundation.
The updated strategy seeks to build on progress made in Turkana, particularly in expanding access to healthcare and improving service coverage, while addressing persistent social and behavioural barriers affecting health outcomes.
It will strengthen communication and behavior change interventions across key priority areas, including family planning, reproductive, maternal, newborn, child and adolescent health (RMNCAH), nutrition, water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH), and the Nurturing Care Framework (NCF).
County officials said the strategy is expected to provide a measurable and sustainable framework for social and behavior change interventions, addressing implementation gaps experienced under previous strategies.
“The document should be reflective of the context in Turkana,” said Godfrey Ikone, Director of KISEDP. “It should be measurable, and a document we can all be proud of that is in line with the Shirika Plan and KISEDP vision.”
County Health Promotions Coordinator Ruth Areman said the review process was intended to ensure the strategy was thorough and practical while establishing HPAC as a mechanism for strengthening coordination of health promotion interventions across the county.
“HPAC is the county multi-sectoral technical platform that provides strategic guidance, coordination, oversight, and technical support for health promotion interventions. With the County Health Promotions Unit as secretariat, the work plan should be linked to the County Integrated Development Plan, Annual Development Plan, County Health Sector Strategic Plan, county health priorities, and national health-promotion priorities,” she said.
The strategy comes amid efforts to strengthen early childhood development and improve health outcomes among children and families in Turkana.
Reinhard Anzeze, Technical Officer for Child Health at Amref Health Africa’s Tucheze Tustawi Project, said 478 Community Health Promoters (CHPs), 81 healthcare workers from host and refugee communities, and 60 Red Cross-based CHPs and safe-motherhood promoters had been sensitised over the past year on the Nurturing Care Framework and early childhood development.
According to Anzeze, Turkana is the first county to train healthcare workers on these components, giving it an opportunity to take a leading role in transforming healthcare and child development interventions.
“This has been a proactive team, eager to ensure this strategy comes to fruition. With two out of ten women likely to experience depression during pregnancy in Kenya, and only 78% of children developmentally on track, I am happy to share that new tracking tools have now been incorporated into the national Mother and Child Health Handbook,” he said.
The updated Mother and Child Health Handbook now includes mental health assessment tools and a PHQ-2 screening protocol on page seven to help identify mothers experiencing mental health challenges and facilitate appropriate treatment and referrals.
Developmental milestone screening on page 28 has also been expanded to cover children up to five years, while page 45 has been revised to provide clearer guidance on responsive care for early childhood development.
Anzeze urged healthcare workers to consistently complete the required sections of the updated handbook, noting that gaps in data collection continue to affect the understanding and tracking of child development outcomes.
The Deputy Director for Family Health Services, Gabriel Lopodo, emphasised the importance of using the new strategy to address threats to early childhood development and improve health outcomes in Turkana.
He cited data from the Kenya Demographic and Health Survey (KDHS) 2022 showing that Kenya records 355 maternal deaths per 100,000 live births, 12 per cent preterm births and 18 per cent stunting among children under five. Turkana, he noted, records significantly higher challenges in some indicators, including a maternal mortality rate of 1,794 deaths per 100,000 live births.
“TWGs are where policy issues and strategies are discussed through community involvement to build a unified vision. This is the committee that will guide how we achieve the targeted early childhood development outcomes, by activating the advisory committee to monitor progress, and using the Instructive Manual to guide the three levels of the implementation framework,” Lopodo said.
He also highlighted the importance of integrating Mental Health and Psychosocial Support (MHPSS) and Social-Emotional Learning (SEL) into the strategy.
Lopodo said only 36 per cent of children attend Early Childhood Education in Turkana, while there is limited data on early stimulation, children’s books and play materials available in households.
“Only 29% of children in Turkana have birth registration or certificate; that alone is a safety and security concern,” he added.
Chief Officer for Preventive and Promotive Health Services Agnes Mana called on members of the technical team to share the knowledge gained during the workshop across their respective health networks and use it to drive behavior change in health facilities and communities.
“Our socio-cultural behaviors have greatly contributed to our poor indicators. We therefore need to prioritise behavior change within our communities and facilities, starting with our homes,” Mana said.
She cited recent public health preparedness challenges, including the Ebola scare, as evidence of the need for continuous community education and awareness.
“A lack of information and awareness is what led us to poor indicators. Unless each one of us is ready to work and consistently educate our communities and healthcare workers, and ensure routine household visits, no strategy will work. We first have to address simple behavior change within our communities,” she said.
Mana further urged the team to develop simple, clear and practical IEC materials that reflect the realities of Turkana communities and can be easily understood and applied by households.
Lopodo also announced plans for communities to showcase their understanding of play-based learning during the Malezi Bora celebrations in November 2026, under the Nurturing Care Framework theme in Turkana. The activities will include lullabies, plays and songs demonstrating the importance of play in early childhood development.
By the end of the workshop, the team had activated HPAC, reviewed and approved the Turkana County Social and behavior Change Strategy 2026–2030 ahead of its launch, and reviewed the Instructive Manual.
The technical team was also sensitised on the Household Play and Care package that Community Health Promoters will use to train caregivers on play-based interventions, as well as the Community MHPSS and SEL package of activities.
The strategy aims to achieve healthy, inclusive and resilient families by 2030, with young children able to thrive through improved healthcare, nurturing care and play-based learning.
The workshop brought together county and sub-county public health officers, community health assistants, monitoring and evaluation officers, health promotion officers, nutrition officers and health records officers.
Those present included Concepta Lon’gole, Assistant Director of Physiotherapy Services; Dr Wycliffe Lolepo, Senior Counselling Psychologist; and Maximila Mana, County Community Health Services Coordinator.
Representatives from Imarisha Jamii, including Sammy Ejore, Danida Transcend represented by Dennis Erot, and their implementing partner ACME also attended the workshop.
