MBUGUA: Upscale rural healthcare in Kenya

Good health and well-being are crucial for all human beings regardless of their social, economic, and political status.

It determines all aspects and spheres of human life and interaction. Health is considered a wealth that all people should be proud of. Arguably, the majority of people in rural and remote areas have been accessing this fundamental right for decades with a lot of difficulties.

The Kenya Census of 2019 showed nearly 60 per cent of Kenyans live in rural areas. More to it the elderly, women, and children are said to be the majority occupants of the rural homesteads who have been experiencing poor healthcare services and information.

Almost needless to say, the survival rate of people in need of emergency healthcare in rural areas is minimal due to sidelining of the facilities in terms of staff, infrastructure, equipment and financing.

Go back to the rural area where you come from and pay a visit to the nearest healthcare facility. You will be shocked by the long queues of children, women, and adults who, despite walking for long distances to access treatment, they are also forced to brave hunger and pain to wait as there are very few medics to serve them.

Worse still, after waiting the whole day, they lack the prescribed medicines in the hospital and are forced to walk again for long distances to buy drugs.

Mark you, it is worth noting that a vast majority of the dwellers of the rural and remote areas do not have health insurance. More often, they are always under the mercy of the service providers and or hospital administration to access their constitutional right.

The rural economy has been greatly affected by climate change, inflation, Covid-19, and urbanisation. All these factors continue to expose rural occupants to dire hunger, malnutrition, unmet need for contraceptives, unemployment, poor housing, poor lighting, unfit drinking water and many diseases.

The healthcare challenges are even worse in marginalised places such as Coastal and Northeastern counties, where there are no ambulances to take sick rural dwellers to county referral hospitals.

Furthermore, there are government hospitals without electricity in remote areas and the roads leading to these clinics are in bad shape, making it hard for development partners to access them and bring their aid.

If Kenya is to achieve its vision of 2030, it is imperative to invest in the delivery of quality healthcare services in rural areas. The Kenya Kwanza government should start with the bottom-most healthcare facilities in the rural areas and move all the way up to the National referral facilities. Again, it is fair enough to reduce the cost of accessing healthcare in rural areas.

John Mbugua is the CEO of Angaza Youth Initiative