Volunteers to drive healthcare success

Thousands of community health volunteers will be hired in the next one year in readiness for the countrywide rollout of universal health coverage.

They will be trained by the national government but paid by the counties. They will earn Sh2,000 monthly each. Health CS Sicily Kariuki said the volunteers will be based in their own villages and will work for about two hours daily.

The ministry will use experience from the UHC pilot to gauge how many volunteers Kenya needs. Multiple sources place the figure at about 100,000.

“Community health workers are trusted members of the communities in which they live. They share common racial and ethnic backgrounds, cultures, languages, and life experiences with the people they serve,” she said.

UHC is one of the President Uhuru’s Big Four agenda. The pilot was launched in Kisumu, Nyeri, Isiolo and Machakos on December 13.

The programme will be rolled out countrywide by year-end. The government targets 100 per cent universal health coverage by 2022.

Sicily said the ministry is working with the county governments to develop a community health policy to guide the work of the volunteers.

Their roles will include case identification, health education, hospital referrals, home visits, follow-ups and counselling.

The volunteers will be coordinated through a mobile app, which they will use to file their work.

“They have the potential to provide health information, encourage healthy practices, and be an accessible point of entry into the national health system for rural and low-income populations,” Sicily said in an article shared by the ministry.

She noted that in Malawi, many improvements in the survival chances of children were attributed in part to the health promotion work of more than 10,000 rural CHVs.

“These trained, salaried outreach workers deliver preventive healthcare such as oral immunisations, treat common killers like diarrhoea, pneumonia and malaria, and care for mothers and babies before and after birth,” the CS said.

Several counties already engage CHV to deliver health services.

Kisii county director of health Geoffrey Otomu said intervention of CHVs is saving lives from killer diseases such as respiratory tract infections, diarrhoea, injuries, trauma and malaria.

“Access to health services in the county has greatly improved in the last three years, thanks to CHVs. Child mortality rate has gone down by a massive 27 per cent, thanks to their intervention,” Dr Otomu said.

Migori Health executive Isca Oluoch said the incorporation of the community health services has reduced maternal deaths, as most traditional birth attendants refer their clients to health facilities.

The World Health Organisation also identifies CHVs as key in fixing the growing shortage of health workers, particularly in low-income countries.