The government is seeking to establish a ‘common pool of resources’ to sustain payment of stipends to community health promoters to ensure the success of the universal health coverage.
This comes even as the national government announced the extension of its partnership with the devolved units for the payment of stipends.
The national government will now provide 50 per cent of the total budget for the stipends for a period of five years instead of the initial three years.
“Support to the county governments by the national government, the national government’s stipend support shall be extended from the current three to five years,” the government announced.
The announcement is contained in the national and county governments coordinating summit joined communiqué signed by Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua and Council of Governors chairperson Anne Waiguru.
This follows a recent national and county governments meeting held at State House, which brought together the President, his deputy and all the governors.
Currently, the national government contributes Sh3 billion per year, with the counties contributing a similar amount to pay the CHPs.
The work of the promoters will include basic preventive and promotive health, health education, basic first aid for the treatment of minor injuries and ailments at the household level and referral for facility-based healthcare.
“The national government is working closely with the county governments to strengthen the delivery of community health services through payment of stipends for 100,000 community health promoters, on a matching basis of 50:50,” President William Ruto said.
The President spoke when he relaunched the programme during Mashujaa Day celebrations in Kericho county in October last year.
The state is also providing CHPs with medical kits which contain basic equipment for household health screening, medicines and supplies used for service provision at the household level.
“The Ministry of Health shall also support the county governments with an additional 7,809 community health promoters’ kits and stipends by the end of January 2024,” the statement stated.
In a bid to sustain the programme, the government revealed plans to establish a pool of resources to ensure the payment of stipend is not disrupted, even after the expiry of the partnership between the county and national governments.
“The Ministry of Health shall develop a framework to necessitate embedding a common pool of resources earmarked for the payment of the CHPs to be managed by the two levels of government,” the government said.
The two levels of governments recruited and deployed 100,000 CHP to take charge of delivery of primary healthcare services at the community level.
Each community health promoter has been allocated 100 homes within their neighbourhoods countrywide. This was aimed at realising the elusive universal health coverage.
“There have been several efforts to achieve universal health coverage in 2003, 2013 and 2018. However, these efforts were not entirely successful,” Ruto said.
At the time, the President said the CHPs had visited over one million households in 10 counties, offered services and their data captured in the Afya Nyumbani dashboard.
“The government has instituted a paradigm shift to preventive and promotive health rather than curative. This approach also makes economic sense. Community health reports state that for every Sh1 invested in community health, Sh9.40 are realised in economic and social gains,” he said.