At least 200 Community Health Volunteers from 17 community units across Loima constituency in Turkana have received specially programmed phones for collecting and disseminating health information.
The technology is a project of the county government in collaboration with In-Supply Health Organisation.
In-Supply Health Organisation is affiliated to USAID/John Snow Inc and is funded by Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation Discovery Center. The project is being piloted in Loima subcounty.
Turkana health chief officer Augustine Lokwang said the shift from the manual system to digital technology is expected to enhance effective information collection and reporting by CHVs to facilitate decision-making on C-stock at the community level.
“The use of those phones will greatly enhance the quality of data being uploaded into the mainstream Health Information Management System (DHIS). We are calling upon the CHVs to complete the training and use of the phones with the deserving seriousness,” Lokwang said.
The County Community Health Strategy Focal Person Lucas Edete said the technology will enhance commodity security and accountability.
He said phones will facilitate picture reporting through application of a Hybrid Paper to Digital-(HP2D) approach to mitigate low smartphone ownership, literacy challenges and poor connectivity.
Health-Enet CEO Kenneth Geture who attended the launch said the mobile phone technology was one of the three components of the programme.
Geture said it will be followed by creation of impact teams and eventual establishment of user-friendly dashboards to ensure a thorough quality audit of the data being processed before using it for decision-making.
Lora Nabwire, the country lead at In-Supply Health said the organisation has been working in Turkana and 10 other counties with the aim of empowering CHVs handling essential health commodities.
“The digital technology for which the CHVs will be trained uses the human centred design and can allow for prompt communication with all persons in the supply chain from the community level to the directors,” Nabwire said.
She said the rollout will provide an opportunity for learning valuable lessons that can be replicated in other counties where services of CHVs are used to drive access to healthcare.
Nabwire said the technology will be transitioned to the County Government for sustainability upon the lapse of the In-Health Supply programme in the next six months.
Edited by P.O
