The International Community for Starvation and Suffering (ICROSS) is a non-profit (NGO) founded by Dr. Joe Barnes and Dr. Michael Meegan in 1979. For over 30 years, ICROSS has continued to create and fund long-term locally managed health programs throughout Kenya, as well as provide technical support and expertise to programs in over twenty countries. ICROSS pioneers research in social and medical fields and partners with leading international institutions such as the Global Fund, the European Union, the World Health Organization/UNICEF and numerous universities.
A fraction of ICROSS’s widespread efforts focuses on HIV/AIDS prevention and treatment, water purification, and Maasai community medical clinics. They manage homecare programs that assist AIDS patients and orphans, establish women’s self-help groups and train traditional birth attendants and community health workers. They battle disease in poor rural areas where healthcare is unavailable through locally staffed health clinics, such as those in nomadic Maasai regions that afford the traditional communities with modern medicine in place of conventional methods. In other areas, solar disinfection of water (SODIS) programs contribute to a reduction in waterborne diseases and a strengthened cooperation within the villages.
ICROSS’s impacts across Kenya have proven immeasurable. Visit
www.icrossinternational.org for more information on these and other programs.