News Categories: Health and Sanitation

In Kenya, malaria accounts for more than 20% of outpatient visits, 19% of hospital admissions, and 3-5% of hospital deaths and is a leading cause of mortality in children less than 5 years of age.

Prompt, quality assured laboratory diagnosis is key to effective malaria case management and control.

Correct diagnosis of malaria reduces unnecessary treatment helps prevent the development of drug resistance and increases the likelihood of correct treatment for other febrile illnesses.

A key tenet of malaria control is strengthening data collection and analysis capacity, which is also critical for malaria elimination. This contributes to better decisions which drive programme performance and outcomes.

The County Government of Nandi is scaling and sustaining access to prompt malaria diagnosis and effective treatment to the entire population.

Part of the implementation of the malaria strategy has been to strengthen laboratory diagnosis of malaria across all levels of the health care system and in all epidemiological zones within the county.

These efforts has seen the County Government of Nandi named the best overall in National Malaria External Quality Assurance Champion for the implemention of National Quality Assurance in parasitological diagnosis of malaria guidelines.

According to Abigael Jerotich, the County Malaria Quality Assurance Officer based at the Kapsabet County Referral Hospital, who received the award on behalf of the county, one of the intermediate results was an improvement in quality Malaria diagnostics. “Initially, malaria was diagnosed without any roadmap and the quality of malaria diagnosis was not given preference,” says Abigael.

To address this challenge, given that Nandi is among the counties with prevalence of malaria, the County Government of Nandi prioritized capacity building for health workers.

“We were taken through a series of trainings that has helped us to transform the management of malaria in the county,” she attests. “We have strengthened the technical support supervision and mentorship in link facilities that have contributed to the usage of commodities and documentation with an aim to improve the accuracy of malaria diagnostics at link facilities.”

She called for the establishment of a County Malaria Reference Laboratory in the county.

Malaria eradication is a top priority of the County. It has devoted resources and expertise to a relentless pursuit of malaria eradication, and has continuously adapted the approach to achieve the greatest possible impact, in partnership with key stakeholders in health.

The CEC Member for Health and Sanitation Ruth Koech who’s also the Vice Chairperson – Health CECs Caucus joined the counties’ CECM Health Leadership during a meeting with the COG Health committee led by the Chairman and Tharaka Nithi County Governor H.E Muthomi Njuki and attended by Governor Stephen Sang at the COG HQs in Nairobi.

Some of the key issues discussed and resolutions made included plans for Universal Health Coverage (UHC), onboarding of all Community Health Volunteers (CHVs) from all the counties, provision of a clear mechanism of managing and sustaining CHVs, sensitisation and capacity building of CHVs and also assessment of Health facilities in order to know the status of equipment and human resource.

In a previous meeting held on 9 May 2023 between the Ministry of Health and County Executive Committee members for Health, MoH informed CECs about the required paradigm shift in health service delivery in order to align to the UHC agenda.

The County Government of Nandi is committed to offering quality healthcare services to the residents of Nandi.

#ContinuedTransformation

The CEC Member for Health and Sanitation Ruth Koech, has encouraged sportsmen and women in the county to continue to maintain a sustained and high level of performance in their respective sporting fields.

“Constantly work to hone your skills in your chosen sport and maintain high standards of physical fitness,” she urged, noting that sports served as a source of unity and upliftment for the county and country’s men and women,” she said.

She was addressing the Nandi Sports team at Kilibwoni Health Center who are headed to Kapenguria in West Pokot County for a tournament.

She encouraged the team on good nutrition and physical activity and wellness and the need to maintain a high level of discipline and integrity, both on and off the field of sports, to strive for excellence, and remain humble even when they are excelling.

She called on athletes to be routinely screened for mental health symptoms across a range of metrics such as sleep, nutrition and injury and mental health should be treated no differently.

The CEC Member said that there’s need to address the everyday wellness of our sportsmen and women rather than wait for a situation to reach crisis point and then intervene.

“Many people think that accessing mental health support is only for someone with a major issue or concern but that is not the case at all. We encourage athletes to use the services we have available at our health facilities to just check in, talk to someone about what is happening in their life and help them to understand and work through any concerns they may have,” she said.

Ruth said there’s need to make sure that mental health needs are also being identified as early as possible to prevent issues from worsening and providing proper support and treatment. It’s a case of ‘if you don’t ask, they won’t tell,’ so screening is definitely needed.

The County Department of Health and Sanitation aims to improve mental health by strengthening effective leadership and governance, providing comprehensive, integrated and responsive community-based care, implementing promotion and prevention strategies, and strengthening information systems.

The County Department of Health and Sanitation in collaboration with Emgwen Member of Parliament will hold a one week free medical camp across the Constituency.

Speaking while receiving a consignment of drugs from KEMSA at Kilibwoni Health Center, Emgwen Member of Parliament Hon Josses Lelmengit said the event is meant to help the locals with free medication and assessment.

He noted that Emgwen community will benefit from the free medical camps where they will access free general medical check-ups, medication reviews, counselling for family planning, cervical & prostate cancer screening, dental care, and eye assessment.

The event is being held at an opportune time as Nurses celebrate the International Nurses Week where Nurses from Nandi County have also organized a series of events across the county to offer free medical services to the residents to mark the event.

The CEC Member for Health and Sanitation Ruth Koech said that the event will also included health education (family planning, nutrition, diet, and public health) sessions and the distribution of essential medications including contraceptive methods.

She lauded the partnership saying the department of health is committed to offering quality healthcare services to Nandi residents.

“One of the most rewarding part is to see the impact we are having on people’s lives,” she added.

The free medical camps facilitated by Emgwen Constituency Office aim to extend health services and bring them closer to their communities. It offers a platform for health practitioners to give back to the community by putting their skills into practice. The camps also help community members and medical staff interact freely from the hospital setting.

The County Government of Nandi under the able leadership of Governor Stephen Sang, is taking every possible measure to strengthen the health care infrastructure in the county.

Patients in various health facilities in the County will benefit from a reliable supply of oxygen. This is after the county commissioned the second state-of-the-art oxygen plant in the latest collaboration between the County Department of Health and Sanitation and USAID.

The move, is a big boost for Nandi residents in accessing quality and affordable healthcare services. This has also seen the county receive 300 new oxygen cylinders courtesy of AMREF Africa as well as ongoing oxygen piping and manifold in 7 facilities across the county.

The plant will provide an adequate oxygen supply to meet the hospital’s demand, enabling it to provide high-quality healthcare services to the residents of Nandi.

The PSA Oxygen Plant has been designed to cater to the high demand for medical-grade oxygen at the hospital and other facilities within the county. With the capacity to generate, supply, store pure medical oxygen and it will provide oxygen supply to hospital beds and the Critical Care Unit (CCU).

Speaking during the commissioning of the facility, Governor Stephen Sang said it has been his dream that residents receive services at their doorstep cutting on the baggage of doing long travels seeking for critical services from neighbouring Counties.

The Governor said the plant aims at boosting access to universal health care (UHC) by providing affordable oxygen to critically ill patients.

“The hospital will now have a reliable and constant supply of medical oxygen, which will ensure that critically ill patients receive timely and appropriate medical attention. This is part of our larger plan to strengthen the healthcare system in Nandi County and to provide affordable and accessible healthcare services to all our citizens,” said Governor Sang.

The oxygen at the facility is interconnected to the wards for easy access by all within different departments at the hospital easing on the burden of carrying gas cylinders to wards.

The Governor said putting up of the Oxygen plant has been his Government’s commitment as one way of meeting Sustainable Development Goal Number 3 which aims at improving and access to quality healthcare to all by the year 2030.

The County Chief thanked the USAID for their continued support in various sectors in the county.

On his part, USAID Deputy Mission Director for Kenya and East Africa region Bert Ubamadu lauded the County Government of Nandi under the leadership of Governor Stephen Sang for the transformation in the healt sector.

Dr Edward Serem who represented the Health PS Eng Peter Tum said that the Oxygen Plant is key to Nandi County and beyond. He said the Ministry of Health will continue to support the County Government of Nandi in taking services closer to the people.

Present at the event were the Deputy Governor Dr Yulita Cheruiyot, Chief Officer for Health and Sanitation Fredrick Kiptum, Nandi Hills Ward MCA Hon Edwin Kiprop, Kapchorwa Ward MCA Hon Richard Bett and Chepkunyuk Ward MCA Hon JohTiltai, Nandi Hills Sub County DCC, Hospital Medical Superintendent Dr Chepkwony, outgoing MedSup Dr Joseph Kangor, officials from Chemonics, JEBHEIGO and CHAI among other guests.

World Immunization Week, celebrated in the last week of April, aims to highlight the collective action needed to protect people from vaccine-preventable diseases.

Under the Global Theme of ‘The Big Catch-Up’, the County Government of Nandi is marking this week with a resolve to strengthen primary healthcare and routine immunization across the county and ensure that no one is left behind.

According to the latest data, Nandi county ranks 8th nationally with 90% of children (age 12-23 months) who are fully vaccinated for basic antigens.

The County Government of Nandi through the Department of Health and Sanitation is building a strong immunization delivery system, sustaining the progress made over the past years and more importantly accelerate the campaign of “The Big Catch Up” to ensure more people, particularly children, are vaccinated and protected from preventable diseases.

The County has put in place innovative immunization strategies to reach the target population and bridge the gap of the number of unvaccinated children under five in the county.

The intensification of routine immunization is to vaccinate at least 99% of children between 9-59 months with Measles Rubella (MR) vaccine including the second dose. The County also is targeting to vaccinate girls aged between 10-14 years with HPV vaccine to protect them against cervical cancer.

Vaccination is one of the most cost effective interventions in saving lives of children, girls and women across the globe including here Nandi County.

The CEC for Health and Sanitation Ruth Koech who’s also the Vice Chair Health CECs Caucus attended the Health Intergovernmental Forum that begun yesterday. The meeting is held quarterly between the Ministry of Health leadership and Health County Executive Committee Members drawn from all the 47 Counties to deliberate on health matters of mutual concern across National and County Governments.

Speaking while officially opening the meeting, Tharaka Nithi Governor and CoG Health Committee Chairperson Muthomi Njuki said that “We must always ensure health services in counties are enhanced as it is one of the primary roles of any government.”

The early detection and treatment of hearing impairment in newborns and infants has a beneficial effect on language acquisition.

Hearing plays a key part in learning to talk. Without speech and hearing it is difficult for interpersonal relationships to develop and thrive.

The current hearing screening process begins with newborn screening.

The County Government of Nandi in partnership with Global Partnerships for Hearing Health and Children’s Speech and Hearing Loss Organization (CHISLO) have established an Early Hearing Detection and Intervention (EHDI) program. The program ensures that every child born with a permanent hearing loss is identified before three months of age and provided with timely and appropriate intervention services before six months of age. Identifying hearing loss at a very early age is important because children with hearing loss often fall behind their peers in speech and language development, cognitive skills and social skills.

Through the partnership the County Government of Nandi has piloted an infant hearing screening project at the Kapsabet County Referral Hospital and several ECD Centers that targets 0-5 year olds.

A team of ENT specialists have also been trained on and use of the screening protocol developed by the US-based Early Childhood Hearing Outreach (ECHO) program from Utah State University. The County has obtained two OAE screening devices from the organization.

Earlier today, Pete Harris from the Global Partnerships for Hearing Health (GPHH), Utah State in the USA and Steve Kitur from Children’s Speech and Hearing Loss Organization (CHISLO) led a team of ENT specialists from the Kapsabet County Referral Hospital for an outreach program at Ol’Lessos Primary School and at Kapsabet School for the Hearing Impaired.

Over 80 ECD learners were attended to whereas 15 others were referred to the Kapsabet County Referral Hospital ENT Clinic for further medication.

The team also met with the Deputy Governor Dr Yulita Cheruiyot and the CEC for Health and Sanitation Ruth Koech.

TB is a global public health issue with some estimates suggesting that a third of the world’s population carry TB in a latent form. Few of those who carry latent TB will develop the active form of that disease and treatment using multiple antibiotics is highly effective in the majority of cases. The risk of onward transmission/infection only arises where the disease is in the active form in the lungs. Although TB normally attacks the lungs (pulmonary TB) it can affect other parts of the body. Other forms of TB (extra-pulmonary) are generally not infectious to others and for those with pulmonary TB the risk of transmission can be addressed within a few weeks of commencing drug treatment. TB strains that are resistant to antibiotics are an increasing problem and treatment in such cases is both more protracted and expensive.

The County Government of Nandi has started a continuous mass tuberculosis screening to curb the spread of the disease.

The exercise, which is happening as the World marked TB Day commemoration held on March 24.

TB is an infectious disease that spreads through the air from a TB infected person. The disease mainly affects the lungs.

The common signs and symptoms of TB include coughing for three or more weeks, coughing blood or mucus, chest pain, weight loss, night sweating, fever, among others.

The Chief Officer for Health and Sanitation Fredrick Kiptum said that the County Government of Nandi has invested significantly in strengthening the diagnosis and treatment at health facilities to improve Tuberculosis case detection through improving coverage of WHO-recommended rapid molecular tests like Gene X-pert machines now in the county.

The Chief Officer, said the campaign involves door-to-door screening by health teams and hot spot screening/outreach activity by health care workers to reach those who will not be at home at the time of the visit but have increased risk of getting TB disease.

The County Government of Nandi has signed a Memorandum of Understanding with HealthX Africa a significant milestone in the journey towards achieving universal healthcare coverage in the county.

Through the partnership, HealthX Africa will provide its technology platform to enable the County Government of Nandi to digitize its health records, streamline its healthcare delivery system, and improve the quality of care.

This will ensure that patients receive timely and accurate diagnosis, treatment, and follow-up care, leading to better health outcomes.

In addition, the partnership will also provide opportunities for capacity building, knowledge transfer, and skill development for healthcare workers in Nandi County.

HealthX will provide training and support to healthcare workers in the use of its platform, ensuring that they are equipped with the necessary skills and knowledge to deliver quality healthcare services.