Kiambu trains community health assistants in bid to enhance UHC program

Kiambu County Government has rolled out training of community health assistants as part of efforts to fast-track implementation of Universal Health Coverage (UHC), a program that seeks to ease access to healthcare.

The local government seeks to make good use of Community Health Assistants (CHAS) to sensitize communities on best practices to live healthy lives.

The county has 60 community health assistants who not only identify common ailments and minor injuries at the community level for appropriate action but also find and refer health cases to the appropriate health facilities, coordinate community health activities and collate health data from household level among other roles.

Being the link between the health delivery structure within the county and the community, the devolved government hopes to empower them to enhance their activities for faster achievement of UHC.

During their training on the community scorecard, a citizen-driven accountability approach for the assessment, planning, monitoring, and evaluation of public services, the county public health director Teresia Wanjiru Njoroge said their training will help people living in the villages to access better healthcare.

The empowerment, Wanjiru said, will enable community members, health providers, and government officials to work together to identify and overcome health coverage quality and equity obstacles.

“This training will help community health assistants best identify health issues at all hospitals and at the community which are affecting the people to help the county come up with prompt interventions,” Wanjiru said.

On her part, Njoki Mwaura, a coordinator of community health services in Ruiru Sub-county, said the empowerment will help the county get the right feedback on delivery of healthcare services to trigger improvements.

“This will also help the people who struggle with ailments at home due to lack of information or financial capacity to access various hospitals. Through our community workforce, we will ensure that no sick resident of Kiambu stays at home in the name of having no money or information about the best treatment stations,” Mwaura said.

On their part, the community health assistants led by Benson Mwangi Mbugua said the training will enhance their knowledge on good relationships and quality dialogue with the community and its leaders for better implementation of UHC.