Health Rights Advocacy Forum - HERAF
Member profile
The Health Rights Advocacy Forum (HERAF) is a non-governmental organization that brings together health workers and agencies to advocate for proper healthcare. It was established in 2006 as a project of Kenya Human Rights Commission with support from Physicians for Human Rights USA; its mission is to be a leader in human rights promoting and empowering Kenyans to realize the right to health for all. HERAF is, therefore, engaged in increasing its members’ understanding of the rights-based approach to health for more support for furthering its vision.
Main activities
HERAF wants to be visible as the leader in promoting, protecting and empowering Kenyans to enjoy the right to health at all times. It exists to:
- Provide knowledge and information on health as a fundamental human right in Kenya;
- Promote health sector management and governance;
- Conduct evidence-based advocacy for reforms in health policies; and
- Advance an efficient health care financing system.
Links to the health workforce crisis
HERAF aims to provide knowledge and skills to enable health professionals to operationalize the Right to Health and to reduce stigma and discrimination of HIV and AIDS. In addition, it advocates for the development and implementation of human resources for health policy focusing on training, recruitment and retention. HERAF provides opportunities for health professionals to comprehend the design, implementation, and evaluation of Kenya’s health financing processes.
The current projects are:
- Create awareness on health rights by conducting regional workshops among all cadres of health workers;
- Conduct campaigns on health financing to enable members to advocate for an increase in the country's health financing budget;
- Disseminate the findings of a 2008 desk review of the HRH situation in Kenya and conduct discussions on the way forward;
- Advocate for a HRH policy that will ensure quality training, deployment, retention and re-training of health workers; and
- Work with health students who are “the future”, equipping them with advocacy skills and knowledge of major health sector issues.
Call for knowledge information:
Alliance Members are invited to submit any relevant knowledge products such as documents, reports, tools, multimedia, links to specific project web sites by sending an email to ghwa@who.int. The Alliance Secretariat will publish relevant products on the Member's page.
Visit our Knowledge centre.
