In a major milestone towards achieving Universal Health Coverage (UHC), Trans Nzoia County launched its Primary Care Networks (PCNs) on Wednesday and flagged off Community Health Promoter Kits. The PCNs are a network of health facilities that will provide comprehensive primary health care services to the community, closer to home. The Community Health Promoter Kits, on the other hand, will equip Community Health Promoters (CHPs) with the tools and resources they need to provide basic health services to their communities. Speaking during the launch ceremony in Kitale town, Trans Nzoia County Governor George Natembeya said that his administration is committed to ensuring that all residents of the county have access to affordable and quality healthcare. ‘A healthy nation is key to our socio-economic development agenda,’ said Natembeya. ‘My administration is committed to enhancing economic transformation by improving access to affordable and quality healthcare as we align towards the attainment of Universal Health Coverage (UHC) for all.’ Natembeya noted that Trans Nzoia is one of the pioneer counties to gazette PCNs and hubs, despite not being part of the pilot counties chosen by the national government. ‘We have already mapped all nine hubs and 179 spokes, with 79 manned by the county government and linked to 224 community health units (CHUs),’ he said. The governor also announced that his administration had embarked on revamping Primary Care Hospitals in the county. ‘We have received 1682 Community Health promoters’ kits from the national government, short of the 2240 kits needed for all CHPs across the county,’ he revealed. Natembeya urged the CHPs to safeguard the kits and use them effectively to provide basic health services to their communities. ‘My administration and the national government are working together to ensure that CHPs receive a monthly stipend of Sh5,000, inclusive of the National Health Insurance Cover for their families,’ he said. The Governor also commended the Ministry of Health for training Master Trainers of Trainers (TOTs) and deploying them across the country to do sensitization on primary healthcare (PHC) and scale up Primary Care Networks (PCNs) establishments in the counties. ‘Trans Nzoia County received seven master TOTs,’ he said. ‘In a period of two weeks from September 24 to October 7, 2023, the master TOTs were able to sensitise the Executive, the County Assembly, the County Health Management Team (CHMT), multi-disciplinary teams, partners, and stakeholders on matters PHC/PCNs, among others,’ noted the county administrator. Natembeya made a passionate appeal to the locals, imploring them to fully embrace and support the implementation of PHC and PCNs in Trans Nzoia County. ‘We can achieve UHC if we work as a team,’ remarked Natembeya.
Source: Kenya News Agency