Social workers play a crucial role in communities by addressing social ills and can help prevent and mitigate ailments.
A board member of the Commonwealth Organization of Social Workers Mr. George Kombe, says that 70 percent of all patients in Kenyan hospitals would get cures for their ailments if the government employed social workers in all hospitals.
He said social workers are able to fill the gap between doctors and their patients because most of the causal factors for the diseases they are suffering from are related to the social problems.
Speaking at the Kakamega Approved School in Kakamega County during the celebration to mark Social Workers’ Day, Kombe, urged devolved governments to employ social workers in their health facilities to assist the patients.
“70 percent of all patients in hospitals suffer from social issues. A sick and stressed woman who is on bad terms with her husband develops high blood pressure but after receiving treatment, she goes back home to meet the same husband. That is why we need a social worker around,” he emphasized.
Mr. Kombe blamed the disconnect in the county government’s health sector, saying even though they have employed some social workers whom they refer to as social medical workers, they face limitations when they report to the department of health while other social workers report to the department of social services.
He wondered what would be wrong if all the social workers reported to the same department so that all of them know where to present some cases whenever they occur.
“Social work is a profession. We have enough people who have gone to colleges to study. A doctor talks or writes to a patient who does not understand. A social worker is able to explain to the patient what the doctor has written,” he said
The director of United Kenya Rising, a non-governmental organization Nelson Itah said his organization is dealing with the causal factors at the grassroots level that result in problems.
“We help families rise above poverty and address the basic issues to assist them. We are trying to address the health sector like helping families to have insurance funds and to have livelihoods so that they can stand on their own instead of languishing in poverty,” he said.
The Secretary General of Kenya National Association of Social Workers Union, Evans Nyakundi admitted there are unemployment challenges facing social workers even as others continue to graduate from learning institutions.
He urged county governments to employ social workers in schools to tame students’ unrest and solve their problems in time before matters escalate.
He called upon both the national and county governments to consider paying students on the internship programme a stipend to uplift their status.
Sigalagala National Polytechnic representative Victor Juma raised concern over high unemployment levels in the sector.
Masinde Muliro University of Science and Technology lecturer Dr. Beatrice Kariaga encouraged members of the community to come up with short course suggestions and be able to partner with the university, particularly social workers in order to contribute to nation-building by solving the problems that are taking place in societies.
By Albert Muteshi
