The Nakuru County Government has scaled up training for Community Health Promoters (CHPs) on Integrated Community Case Management (ICCM), and the initiative equips them with knowledge and skills to excel in their roles at the basic care level.
The County’s Community Health Strategy focal person, Ms. Ritah Ochola, who is overseeing the training of 110 CHPs in the Lanet sub-county said they serve as primary points of contact and as conduits for seamless transitions between the community and formal healthcare facilities. She was speaking today during the training at Lanet.
She noted that the role of CHPs extends beyond prevention since it includes early detection and referral to higher-level health facilities when necessary adding that they play a crucial part in addressing health inequalities by bringing essential health services closer to the people, especially those in rural and informal areas.
Ms. Ochola said the major roles of CHPs are to sensitize the community on the importance of healthy lifestyles, provide disease surveillance by reporting early signs of any outbreak, enroll and monitor the health status of the households they are assigned, and report incidences of side effects of drugs.
She underscored the importance of primary healthcare as vital for achieving Universal Health Coverage and commended the government for putting more emphasis on preventive rather than curative care, which she observed was unaffordable for many households.
However, Asha Juma who has worked as a community healthcare worker since the inception of HIV/AIDS in the 1980s, said caring for sick neighbors has always been an African tradition and culture, which got messed up with the inception of capitalism and individualism.
She applauded the government for the stipend of sh.5000 per month, adding that despite having served her community in Bondeni estate in Nakuru City for many years, the only token they occasionally received was from NGOs.
She urged those who have been appointed to take their roles seriously, noting that the major impediment they faced was many patients declined to seek treatment, simply because they could not afford it. But the newly introduced Social Health Insurance Fund (SHIF) that caters to everyone makes their work easier.
By Veronica Bosibori
