Nakuru County has embarked on the launch of a Community Health Services Strategy document that will play a major role in determining how health care services are managed.
The Nakuru Community Health Services Strategic paper for 2022/ 2027, will help regulate and manage services at the primary level of care within the community.
The strategic paper was developed through a consultative process with several stakeholders to ensure the document focuses on six health systems building blocks as recommended by the World Health Organization.
They include leadership and governance, health financing, human resources for health, service delivery, supplies, and community health information systems.
The development comes at a time when the county seeks to achieve universal health coverage by ensuring the community utilizes the available government and private health insurance to the maximum.
Acting County Executive for Health Jackline Osoro and the Chief Officer for Public Health Dr. Daniel Wainaina led the County Health Management Team to validate the final draft of the Bill in readiness for printing, launch and roll out for implementation.
Osoro expressed her gratitude to partners who gave an input to the Nakuru County Community Health Services Technical Working Group and the writing team that has been working tirelessly to ensure the strategy is actualized.
The Nakuru Community Health Services Strategy (2022 – 2027) aims to build a responsive and sustainable community health system to provide primary health care at level-1 towards attaining universal health coverage through robust community and primary health care services.
The document has identified preventive and Promotive health services as a priority in a bid to address the over 80% of the sanitation related disease burden.
The county will also be seeking to address the rising burden of non-communicable diseases by investing in awareness and screening services as well as specialized diagnostic and treatment facilities. These will include Oncology, Renal, Imaging and specialized theatres. Some of these facilities have already been established, while others are on course for implementation.
Partner coordination and resource mobilization will also be enhanced to bridge the budgetary gaps and enhance efficiency and accountability.
By Jane Ngugi