Primary Health care pediatrics as a tool for international cooperation: Experience from a project in Kenya

Primary care pediatrics presents a series of principles that can be useful in international health cooperation. Among these principles, accessibility, longitudinality, comprehensiveness, and a community-based approach stand out. The objective of this paper is to describe the experience of a pediatric cooperation project developed in the Mukuru slum (Nairobi, Kenya) and to reflect on the usefulness of these principles in vulnerable environments.

This article describes the organizational characteristics of the project at the Pediatric and Maternal Unit of Mary Immaculate Clinic in Mukuru, its clinical activity, the community and training strategies implemented, as well as the activity statistics for the year 2025. Through the analysis of the specific characteristics of this project, it can be observed how the application of these primary care pediatric principles has led to favorable healthcare outcomes, although it has not been without a series of difficulties, which are also discussed.

The concrete experience of this project suggests that primary care pediatrics can be effectively involved in international cooperation plans, contributing to the sustainable strengthening of child care in environments of high socioeconomic vulnerability.