A psychologist in rural Kenya who had been enrolled in a USAID-supported mental health outreach program said: "Me being a health care worker, I have been receiving this particular service when I have burn[t] out, and currently am not receiving them … and remember we have shortage of staff in various departments, now the burnout continues.”
Date: 12/25
Region: Africa
Country: Kenya
Topic: Health
Policy Lens: Global Health Security
Entry Type: Field Observation
Additional Context: This quote is attributed to Emmanuel Barasa, a psychologist who had been enrolled in a USAID-supported mental health outreach program. He said that the therapy sessions were a lifeline during periods of burnout. In early 2025, abrupt and sweeping U.S. foreign assistance cuts left community health workers in limbo, with projects like this one terminated in April 2025.
This quote was collected as part of The Aid Report’s original reporting, “‘I can’t just leave them’: Kenya’s health workers carry on without pay.” The feature story examined how nearly a year after the US cut much of its health funding to Kenya, unpaid community health workers still underpin HIV and mental health care.
Source: Devex