Living Goods

The Board of Directors of Living Goods led by the organization’s founder Chuck Slaughter, Chief Executive Officer Emilie Chambert and Country Director Thomas Onyango conducted an official visit to Vihiga County as part of their mission to assess the impact and progress of digitized community health services supported by Living Goods in Kenya.

The delegation visited Emuhaya and Hamisi Sub County Hospitals where they had engagements with the Respective Health Management Teams (SHMT) and Facility In charges before visiting CHPs and local communities where Living Goods has been instrumental in supporting the digitization of Community Health Services.

Following the field visits, the delegation paid a courtesy call to Vihiga County Governor H.E. Dr. Wilber Khasilwa Ottichilo at his office. Discussions revolved around the continued collaboration between Living Goods and the County Government of Vihiga to strengthen the community health strategy through digital innovations, continuous capacity building, and policy support.

Governor Ottichilo commended Living Goods for their steadfast commitment to improving primary healthcare and expressed his administration’s readiness to scale up the digital community health interventions.

Additionally, The Governor underscored the need for continuous capacity building, better device management, a stronger commodity supply chain, improved SHA registration, full implementation of the Facility Improvement Financing (FIF) Act and stressed the importance of data-driven decision-making & the use of GIS tools for health planning.

The visit concluded with a tour of the Geographic Information System (GIS) Laboratory at the county headquarters. The Board observed how the GIS lab is being utilized to enhance health system management by integrating real-time data submitted by CHPs through the electronic Community Health Information System (eCHIS). The linkage between field-level data and GIS mapping has empowered county health managers with timely insights into disease patterns, coverage gaps, and performance indicators, enabling data-driven planning and response.

Mr. Slaughter lauded Vihiga County for embracing innovation and expressed optimism about the future of digitally empowered community health.

The visit underscored the importance of public-private partnerships in achieving Universal Health Coverage (UHC) and demonstrated how technology can be harnessed to strengthen community health systems for lasting impact.