Doctors want the government to first address challenges facing the country’s health system before adopting a health promotion and disease prevention approach through the recruitment of Community Health Promoters (CHPs).
The Kenya Medical Practitioners Pharmacists and Dentists Union (KMPDU) secretary general Davji Atellah on Monday told the Star that it will be an exercise in futility to have health promoters when many hospitals are facing healthcare workers shortages and lack of drugs among other challenges.
He said it will be much easier for CHPs to work if we have an overhaul of the health system by employing enough healthcare workers, and investing in commodities so that the country can have drugs.
"Health promotion and disease prevention approach is functional and beneficial if there is interest of the government to invest in healthcare. We need to have enough healthcare workers employed in hospitals. Actually, we don’t have personnel, drugs, reagents", Atellah said.
"So therefore it will be like saying Community Health Promoters will be like a single bullet on the management of healthcare yet the role will be to encourage people to seek care."
KMDU also called for better remuneration of the promoters to help them manage their responsibilities and not exploit them.
"It’s much more accountable to remunerate people well and put them to task on the job they are going to do," Atellah added.
Speaking when he unveiled kits to Community Health Promoters in Nairobi, President William Ruto said the deployment of CHPs will be a radical step that will further Universal Health Coverage in the country.
The President noted that the more than 100,000 health promoters in 47 Counties will be supervised by professional medics.
“Kenyans will now be served at their homes in the spirit of our transformative tact to serve the people,” he said.
Each promoter is charged with serving 100 homes.
They will be provided with basic equipment for household health screening.
They will also have smartphones to help transmit information, instruction, and advice.
