Investing in Preventive Health: Boost for CHPs as they receive outreach bicycles to aid in their mobility

INVESTING IN PREVENTIVE HEALTH: Boost for CHPs as they receive outreach bicycles to aid in their mobility.

Kitui County Government under the leadership of Governor Julius Malombe has continued to work closely with development partners to offer quality healthcare services to the county residents.

One of the strategic partners in this cause is Catholic Mission Medical Board (CMMB) who have acknowledged Governor Malombe's agenda on healthcare provision and offered a partnership that will advance promotive and preventive healthcare services.

Today, 19th April 2024, the Governor was joined by CMMB officials led by the Country Director Dr Kisia in distributing over 370 bicycles donated by World Bicycle Relief (WBR) to Community Health Promoters (CHPs) drawn from Mwingi North to help in their outreach work at the grassroots.

Governor Malombe's administration places key premium on CHPs who play an important role in ensuring that health education gets to the rural populations, the result of which is prevention of both communicable and non communicable diseases.

The bicycles will help the CHPs in their mobility and make it easier for them to cover a wider area and reach more households.

Speaking during the event held at Kyuso, Governor Malombe reiterated 'The Kitui Promise' agenda, foremost of which is porvision of affordable and quality healthcare services to the County residents.

Further, the Governor said he is committed to the revival of the economy and roll out of development projects that have a direct impact on the county people. On health, the County boss noted that his administration has undertaken initiatives to guarantee provision of accessible, affordable, quality and sustainable health services to all Kitui residents.

"My administration has endeavored to prioritize promotive and preventive health services. Our commitment is to renew the Public health focus from the costly and often inaccessible curative services to preventive and promotive health services through strengthening of community health services," said Governor Malombe. The Governor explained that there is need to devote more energy and resources on preventive and promotive health interventions that begin at home, often before the onset of illnesses.

He stated that investing on CHPs will reduce the burden on the healthcare system by preventing diseases, thus reducing the workload in health facilities. Governor Malombe administration has so far recruited and trained 2,470 Community Health Promoters, which translates to 10 CHPs in each of the 247 County villages.

To motivate the CHPs, the Governor revealed that his administration has been providing a monthly stipend of Kshs 3,000 to each health promoter. The CHPs receive a further Ksh2500 top up each from the National Government. A number of them have been provided with mobile phones to aid in their operations.