One Day’s Wages is partnering with Healthy Kids/Brighter Future to train school teachers and administrators as frontline health workers and improve primary healthcare to 5,000 school-aged children in Zambia.

Why Zambia?

In Zambia, although 90% of children register for school, almost half drop out before completing grade 7, and a third regularly suffer from repeated illness and stunting that disrupts their learning and development. School absence because of illness is a major problem, and as many as 40% of Lusaka’s poorest children regularly suffer from treatable illnesses. Healthcare is available and free, but mistrust of government clinics, failure of parents to know when their children are sick, and a host of other issues work to the detriment of children’s health.

ODW + Healthy Kids/Brighter Future

We are partnering with Healthy Kids/Brighter Future to improve the way communities care for children through integrated school health. Healthy Kids/Brighter Future dramatically improves the accessibility of healthcare for school children by training selected teachers as community health workers and connecting schools to the national health system. Once in the program, schools provide students with ongoing health education, basic first aid, health surveillance, clinic referrals and follow-up when they are absent more than a few days.

The program brings school administrators, clinic professionals, and community leaders together to make school children’s health as a priority. The result: better health for children, improved school outcomes, and better monitoring of children’s wellbeing. Healthy children today are essential for a thriving world tomorrow—and that means responding to every child’s right to health.

Join us as we partner to train and equip school teachers and administrators to provide school children with the primary healthcare they need for a brighter future. The progress bar above includes our intended matching amount of $8,750.

Meet the Health Workers

Fifteen-year-old Precious Mahumenu (not pictured here) benefited greatly from the school health worker’s quick response. Precious had been complaining of severe ear pain, but her family had not been able to respond to the pain to get it taken care of. The pain was constant for Precious at school and was affecting her studies. Her friend reported the problem to the School Health Worker who swiftly took action, recalling the skills she learned through the Healthy Kids/Brighter Future training. The School Health Worker took Precious’ temperature to rule out an infection, gave her pain medication, and filled out a referral form so Precious could get the professional medical attention she needed. At the hospital, an insect was extracted from Precious’ ear canal and the pain faded away. Today Previous is an ambassador who encourages her schoolmates to seek help from the School Health Worker whenever they feel sick.