Action in Focus organizes Medical Camps that offer free medical and dental assistance to the poor. In many rural areas, people have never even seen a doctor, & therefore suffer from many illnesses. Diseases, which are relatively easy to treat, such as malaria and typhoid, amoebas, urinary tract infections, respiratory tract infections, skin diseases, & various eye, ear, nose & throat infections, etc. are things which many people have just learned to live with.

Action in Focus started a program that "brings the hospital to the people", treating anywhere from 800 - 1200 people per camp. A team of volunteer doctors is assembled, as well as pharmacists & nurses, and we are able to treat multitudes of women, children, men and elderly that flock in to the site to obtain the free consultation, treatment and medicine that they so desperately require.

Line-ups of people seek treatment for diseases ranging from Typhoid, Malaria, Respiratory Tract & Urinary Tract Infections, to Skin Diseases, Tuberculosis, Chest coughs, & illnesses brought on by AIDS.

Volunteers, young and old, all pitch in to help with a variety of tasks ranging from dispensing of medicines to keeping stock organized.

Our volunteers dispensing medicines at a medical camp for 500 people

One such camp was recently established in a rural town next to Mount Kenya, a two-hour drive from the capital that includes several kilometers of "maram" (dirt) road that turns to mud after an all-night rain. Courtesy of the University in Nairobi, 12 newly-graduated dentists and two lecturers accompanied Action's team. They treated approximately 400 people for various dental problems (including extractions), held classes on dental hygiene, and passed out free toothbrushes & toothpaste.

Another section of the camp was devoted to medical problems. Volunteer general practitioners diagnosed around 400 people, who received free treatment and medicine valued at approximately $3,500. In addition to coordinating the professional services and providing the medicine and supplies, volunteers passed out 3,000 Gospel tracts to all interested people in the vicinity.

Several of our medical camps are more specifically geared to treating children. One in particular is a rehabilitation center that houses and educates 160 orphans. The camp's services are also made available to hundreds more children from the surrounding areas whose families cannot afford school fees or medical costs. With volunteer physicians from Kenya and abroad, our camp treated 450 children daily. One female doctor from England personally attended to 100 children during the course of one day!

In addition to offering medical assistance, our volunteers spend personal time with each of the children-reading stories to the little ones and holding "question & answer time" on a variety of topics with the older children-all the while encouraging them with affirmation that they are loved and have value.

Additionally, around 2-3000 people benefit from our involvement in the Verkaart Medical Camps held in the Kwale district along the coast of Kenya every 6 months. We began participation in these particular camps in October 2000, providing both volunteers and management, as well as donating medical supplies.

The Makadara Homeless Aid Program is one that we undertook in Mombassa, which focuses on supplying medical check-ups for the needy, collaborating with a doctor from Municipal Council Dispensary and Clinical Officers from Coast General Hospital. We administer first aid, distribute hygiene supplies, and feed the homeless men, women, children and elderly that gather there every month.

Action in Focus recently launched a de-worming program to treat 20,000 children (approximately 1,300 each month). For many of the children who have never taken any medicine before, the thought of swallowing "worm" medicine was frightening; however, Action's volunteers brightened the experience with skits, group singing, and the universally popular ice cream and cookies!

Action in Focus' medical camps have been so widely successful that these have received national coverage on radio and in the newspapers.