When Dr. Bernard Olayo started his career at a public hospital in western Kenya’s Homa Bay there were two things he could be certain to happen every day during the rainy season.
“You are sure that the power will go out — and that you will get children with pneumonia. They came in large numbers,” he said.
His hospital served communities living on 16 islands in Lake Victoria, with parents braving the cold, wet weather to travel by boat to the mainland to seek care for their babies, whose needs often included medical oxygen.
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About the author
Sara Jervingsarajerving
Sara Jerving is a Senior Reporter at Devex, where she covers global health. Her work has appeared in The New York Times, the Los Angeles Times, The Wall Street Journal, VICE News, and Bloomberg News among others. Sara holds a master's degree from Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism where she was a Lorana Sullivan fellow. She was a finalist for One World Media's Digital Media Award in 2021; a finalist for the Livingston Award for Young Journalists in 2018; and she was part of a VICE News Tonight on HBO team that received an Emmy nomination in 2018. She received the Philip Greer Memorial Award from Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism in 2014.
