Siaya community health promoters to be enrolled into NHIF

Siaya county government under the leadership of Governor James Orengo has set aside Sh13 million to enrol a total of 2,128 community health promoters across the county in the National Health Insurance Fund (NHIF).

Orengo's administration has also branded and kitted all the CHPs linked to 221 Community Health Units and 2250 villages across Siaya County.

The CHP kits distributed on Monday during a function held at the governor's home in Ugenya were supplied by the national government, with supplemental supplies by the county government, in response to unique disease patterns and demographics in Siaya.

The county government provided boots for the CHPs and tablets for electronic data collection and reporting.

Orengo said that the impact of the investment in community health services and CHPs is evident.

He noted that because of the strong community health structures in the rural county, laid through CHPs, Siaya is in a better position to implement Primary health care through the new legal framework put in place by President William Ruto's government.

"During my campaigns, I laid a commitment to the people of Siaya that I intended to improve access, affordability and quality of healthcare services," the governor said.

"At the heart of my pledge to revitalize Siaya’s healthcare system and retool it to be responsive to the needs of the majority, I made an undertaking to strengthen community health services and primary healthcare," he added.

On Tuesday, Orengo reiterated his undertaking to expand the range of healthcare services so that the people of Siaya do not travel long distances seeking health services.

The governor noted that one year since he assumed office, many achievements have been made in healthcare.

Among the gains so far achieved according to the governor include the hiring of 180 health workers.

He noted that this was done to address the huge human resource gap.

He also mentioned the steadying of the supply and stocking of the health facilities with health products and technologies including essential medicines.

"I recognize that more needs to be done in this area, but today we can confidently state that we are not where we were," Orengo said.

He said Siaya has also witnessed the expansion of an array of healthcare services as a result of the improvement of Human Resources for Health.

"Since I assumed office, my administration has also acquired ultra-modern ambulances to improve our Emergency Operation Care and medical referral and revamped our Emergency Operation Center," he said.

Orengo further disclosed that in the current financial year, his government has allocated significant resources to equip facilities and expand the physical infrastructure.

These include the construction of the Theatre complex at Siaya County Referral Hospital which is underway.

"Siaya County stands out and is celebrated as leading in community health services. Our recognition and appreciation of our Nyamrerwa stands out across the country," he added

He noted that the county also regularly pays a monthly stipend of Sh 3000 to the CHPs.

" No other county pays this amount of money to this group," he said.

The CHPs conduct regular household registration and visitation according to the governor.

He disclosed that Siaya has witnessed a reduction in malaria burden from 33% to 19% due to the involvement of the CHPs.

Skilled birth deliveries also improved in the county from 56% to 96 %, reducing maternal and child deaths while reduction of mother-to-child transmission of HIV was also achieved.

"We also achieved an increase in immunization coverage to 99% up from 67% and boosted treatment of childhood diseases at community/household level," he added.

He urged the health promoters to redouble their efforts to improve the health and sanitation of their communities.

" We are currently strengthening our Primary Care Network as a building block of the Primary Health Care in my vision of delivering quality health services to our people that I promised in my campaigns," Orengo said.