News Categories: Health and Sanitation

The County Government of Nandi has on The 24th of September 2018, launched its Big Four Agenda, aligning it with President Uhuru’s National Big Four Agenda. That is; Universal Health Care, Affordable Housing, Food Security and Manufacturing. The launch was officiated by H.E The Deputy President William Ruto. To achieve Universal Healthcare, The County has embarked on comprehensive programmes to rehabilitate and equip all its dispensaries and health centers across the county including upgrading Kapsabet Referral Hospital. The day saw a number of ongoing projects being commissioned by The Deputy President at The Referral Hospital including The Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI), The X-Ray machine, RenalDialysis Unit which provides services 4 days a week. The upgrade of the hospital also comprises of commissioning of an oxygen plant, Intensive Care Unit (ICU) and expansion of the newborn nursery unit. The purchase of a 385 KVA standby generator to ensure uninterruptable supply of power to the facility has also been purchased which will go along way in ensuring that the residents can access specialized medical treatment. The day also saw the launch of the Health Management Information System, which is a set of components and procedures organized with the objective of generating information which will improve health care management decisions at all levels of the health system. The roll out of the HMIS will aid in easy access to patient data. A well-implemented HMIS means readily available patient data to the care providers. Four out of every five Kenyans have no access to medical insurance. In, the initial phase, The county has also managed to roll out a massive NHIF enrollment programme targeting 100,000 households. This is in line with the Agenda for Universal Health Care. The Governor Stephen Sang, also mentioned that the agenda has captured the aspirations of the people and that’s why he took the major direction of integrating it in The County Development Plan.“This event affords us a rare opportunity to set the pace for other devolved units to synergize with the National Government’’ added the county boss. Speaking during the event, the Deputy President mentioned thatequipping of hospitals with modern machines, medicine suppliesand improving infrastructure will go a long way in providing access to quality services. He also added that it ensures early, proper diagnosis and effective treatment hence resulting in a healthy population. He also assured the residents of the support by the National Government in achieving and making affordable healthcare and equitable access a reality. #TugaTai #TransformingNandi

The County Government of Nandi has assured nurses that they will receive support to ensure they provide better healthcare to residents. CEC for health and sanitation Ruth Koech hailed nurses across the county for the extra care and long hours they invest in taking care of patients and saving lives.

She was speaking in her office after receiving a scanner and a router from USAID to support the department of health Human Resource unit for the purpose of updating HRH data into iHRIS. Integrated Human Resources Information System (iHRIS) is an open-source web application built by Intrahealth International to improve efficiency in health worker force management and development. It helps to collect, manage, analyze, interpret, and disseminate data about the health workers countrywide based on international human resources management & development standards and practices.

Kenya is one of the countries supported by PEPFAR in combating HIV/ AIDS, RMNCAH and malaria activities. HRH Kenya Mechanism is a USAID PEPFAR funded project that strengthens health workforce management to achieve improved health outcomes for the Kenyan people. One of the key areas of the project is to implement integrated Human Resource Information System (iHRIS) and optimize data use for effective decision making at national and county level and establish linkages between iHRIS to regulatory and service delivery data systems.

iHRIS enables Counties to save time storing employee records with the easy to use web forms, enhances efficiency in managing employee data since it checks data integrity and consistency, HR managers are able to track the status of their health workers and know where they are stationed, trainings received, attrition etc. The system enhances communication between national, county and facility level as information updated at the facility level is accessible at all other levels. iHRIS provides national, county and facility-related statistics on health workforce numbers and skills and allows partners & other stakeholders to track numbers and skills of health workers for counties and facilities of their interest.

In the continuing efforts to upgrade community health services, the department of health and sanitation has embarked on major refurbishment projects on several health centres across the county. The project includes the refurbishment and some remodeling works.

To date, upgrade and expansion works are ongoing in Kapsabet County Referral Hospital, Nandi Hills Hospital, Kapseng’ere health centre and Serem health centre, while other facilities in different wards across the county are in the process of being renovated.

  County Executive Committee Member for health, Ruth Koech said the refurbishing programme, being undertaken by the department, is part of a thrust by the County Government to improve health care services at the community level, in order to enhance preventive care and reduce the incidences of non-communicable diseases (NCD).

“Expansion of our primary care centres will allow for curative actions and also improve the preventive side of care,” Ruth stated.

“The idea is to have institutions that function as mini hospitals with extended hours, and diagnostic treatment that provide quality and affordable healthcare,” she noted.

Kilibwoni Health Centre is undergoing a series of renovations to upgrade its delivery of community health services.

The scope of work at the Kilibwoni Health Centre includes renovation of the roof; tiling; plumbing and electrical works; paving and landscaping of the premises; and providing furniture and equipment.

The facility provides maternal and child health, dental, as well as curative services to residents of Kilibwoni and surrounding areas.

Ms Chelagat Caroline, a resident of Kilibwoni trading centre expressed gratitude for the work done.

In line with the Presidents Big Four Agenda of Quality and Affordable Health Care, The Ministry of Health together with The National AIDS & STI Control Program (NASCOP) and their partners, The Kenya Population Based HIV Impact Assessment (KENPHIA) recently launched a survey program that is to be conducted Nationwide.

The launch marked the beginning of a six-month fieldwork component which involves survey teams visiting selected households for data collection. In total the survey teams will visit 20,000 selected household distributed across all the 47 counties and interview approximately 35,000 individuals.

In Nandi County, The Governor Stephen Sang launched the exercise, that saw a flagging off of eight teams that comprised field lab technicians, medical officers and counselors. The teams will visit 25 households in 12 clusters and about 300 households in total. The villages participating were randomly selected through multistage double-blind sampling, after statistics was done by The Kenya National Bureau of Statistics. The goal of the survey is to estimate the incidence and prevalence of HIV as well as determine the level of HIV Suppression of HIV in Kenya. The survey is a build up of the 5 yearly survey done in the country.

The launch is aimed at sensitizing and increasing awareness on the onset of the collection of data by KENPHIA at the County level, increasing County buy in and encourage the community to participate and to also sensitize the healthcare workers on the exercise and prepare them for linkage services. The launch has brought together all the Stakeholders and Collaborators and created awareness to the members of the County to empower and encourage them to participate in the survey.

In his address The Governor said that the survey will provide information on progress and update on key HIV program initiatives including coverage of HIV testing, care and treatment services, knowledge of HIV indicates in the County and the progress towards elimination of mother to child transmission of HIV and Syphilis. He also further added that, the survey will aid in informing policy, planning and services required to ensure universal coverage of quality HIV prevention, care and treatment services that are critical towards the attainment of the UNAIDS 90-90 GOALS.

The community is hereby urged to turn out and participate in the voluntary based survey and do it willingly as it will give bolder and greater impacts in the society. Courtesy of the partners we can eradicate HIV and reduce its prevalence.

Affordable and quality healthcare is achieved when an all health sectors have been put to consideration. To achieve this, the Department of Health and Sanitation is partnering with different organizations to ensure it’s achieved.

Kanco is a leading national health advocacy network organization that aims at improving health and well-being among communities through capacity building and promotion of innovative leadership majoring in the universal advocacy of HIV and AIDS, TB, Child Health including Immunization and Nutrition.