Today county leaders from thirty counties gathered in Safari Park Nairobi to discuss progress of the county and national progress efforts towards elimination of mothers to child transmission of HIV and maternal, neo-natal and child health indicators.
The meeting, attended by county representatives included County First Ladies, County Executive Members for Health and National Health coordinators was officially opened by the Principal Secretary, Ministry of Health, Dr. Nicholas Muraguri.
In his remarks Dr. Muraguri noted that ”at the launch of the Beyond Zero Campaign in 2014, the indicators for mothers and children were at 5000 and 100000 deaths annually. However, this picture has since changed due to the concerted efforts by Her Excellency the First Lady of the Republic of Kenya and the County First Ladies”. To-date, 1700 and 30000 deaths have been averted for mothers and children respectively. He noted with admiration the passion and resilience of the First Lady of the Republic of Kenya especially for the less fortunate in her clarion call that ”no woman should not die while giving birth”.
Also present was the Director, National AIDS Control Council, Dr Nduku Kilonzo who applauded the Beyond Zero Campaign stating ”Beyond Zero Campaign helps us deliver on our mandate”. She welcomed the participants as the national health agency that hosts the Beyond Zero Secretariat.
Contributions at county level were presented by the Chair, County Executive Committee Members, Dr Mulwa who remarked that “health is about emergencies and attending to the sick. But we must also remember the importance of multi-sectoral approach. The Beyond Zero Campaign validates this conversation in ensuring that we are able to reach the unreached in our communities”. He commended the First Lady of the Republic of Kenya because she has provided the much needed political will in championing maternal and child health issues.
According to the Beyond Zero Coordinator Edward Miano the delivered mobile clinics have provided almost a quarter million services across the country with a fourteen million reach using the health messages. ”The Beyond Zero Campaign exists to complement county government health infrastructure and they are not the only health solutions” Edward noted. However, there have been challenges after the delivery of the mobile clinics – delayed health data reporting on the national health information system, DHIS.
”The Beyond Zero mobile clinic provides services to hard to reach, those mothers and children including men who are not able to access health care services at all. These areas that do not have static health facilities” reported Dr. Elizabeth Ominde-Ogaja, County Minister for Health Services and Promotion of Health Investments, Kisumu County who was making a presentation on behalf of her peers at the counties represented.
One advantage of the mobile clinics highlighted was the laboratory unit within the mobile clinic that provides immediate diagnosis for patients during the outreach services. Challenges common to all counties was the sharing of health personnel from static health facilities to facilitate provision of services; and delays in reporting arising from the difficulty in segregating catchment populations between the static and mobile clinic. As she concluded Dr.Ominde-Ogaja noted with concern the increasing number of elderly people turning up for specialized care and requested that the national government comes up with policy targeting the elderly.
There was consensus to have the Beyond Zero mobile clinics as static health facilities so as to ensure budget line within county governments. The session concluded with participants requesting for multi-sectoral approach by both levels of government targeting the health sector including the Beyond Zero mobile clinic.
The aim of this Pre-Leadership Summit is to come up with awards their categories and criteria for ordinary Kenyans doing exemplary work in the health sector. The meeting was attended by thirty two counties – County First Ladies and County Executive Committee Members for Health.
The awards will be presented by First Lady of the Republic of Kenya as the Patron of the Beyond Zero Campaign in line with her Strategic Framework.
The Beyond Zero awards will be held as a culmination to the delivery of all mobile clinics across the country.