Himarika
Himarika was developed out of Boost as a job aid for community health workers in Kenya and East Africa
What is Himarika?
Himarika is the East African version of the Boost job aid. It used the core content and technology of Boost but was rebranded as Himarika and translated into Swahili for Kenya and East Africa.
Like Boost, Himarika is a job aide for community health workers and peer educators that enhances their knowledge, skills, and confidence to share accurate and actionable HIV, sexual and reproductive health, and other primary health information with their communities. It provides a digital alternative specifically developed and tailored to the needs of community health workers and the sub-Saharan African context.
Ownership of Himarika was handed over to national NGO LVCT Health in Kenya in January 2025.
How can you access Himarika?
Purpose built for community health workers
Work began with LVCT Health in August 2024 to establish an East African version of Boost, adapted to the needs of the regions CHWs and the communities they served. This included developing a new brand, translating all 53 content modules into Swahili, and tailoring screening tools for the Kenyan context.
The translation and rebranding exercise was undertaken by LVCT Health, including focus groups with CHWs and peer educators, resulting in Himarika. Hima means faster and rika means peer – perfectly encompassing aspirations for the tool to equip frontline health workers with accessible and accurate information that can be rapidly shared within their peer networks.
With the brand and content of Himarika in place, the technical infrastructure was handed over, giving LVCT Health ownership of a fully independent brand to scale in Kenya and across East Africa.
Himarika will help us continue to strengthen our leadership in health and digital health, especially by exploring tech-driven preventative approaches.
How is Himarika making a difference?
Himarika is supporting the work of hundreds of LVCT’s community health workers, enhancing their interaction and communication with clients and supporting referrals to relevant health services.
Additional funding from ViiV Positive Action was secured in January 2025 to support LVCT Health to scale up and roll out Himarika to four new organisations in Kenya, providing access to the job aid to hundreds more community health workers.
Find out more about Himarika
If you work with community health workers in Kenya and East Africa who would benefit from Himarika, get in touch with LVCT Health.
Photo credit: Denis Osumo. Photos are used for illustrative purposes. They do not imply health status or behaviour.
* 2021-22 and 2023-24 Boost evaluations