Kenya: Majority Lack Access to Health Services.

By Henry Neondo

NAIROBI---Kenyan women still trek long distances in search of health services for their kids and themselves, a study survey on health integrity has shown. What is worse, getting to the health facility for most women do not guarantee service as either there might be no drugs or personnel to attend to their needs---most have emigrated for greener pastures out of the country.

At the health facilities, a mother is likely to meet a disgruntled and unmotivated health care worker, who has stayed on the same job group for the last 20 years ago earning a salary last reviewed decades ago.

According to the report released Monday by the Family Linkages International and Transparency International in Nairobi, while most of basic services are provided for by the private health facilities even in the rural areas, the same is not so for government facilities.

For example, a government-run facility in Kiambu, about 25 kilometres from Nairobi, the survey found out that the facility did not get enough reagents for CD4 or viral load tests used in HIV and AIDS testing and the treatment.

 Even where money, from user-fee was available, it was impossible for the government-run facilities to buy supplies directly as these are said to be centrally supplied from the headquarters in Nairobi.

Further, the survey shows that the country has no policy guidelines of setting up evenly distributed health facilities.

Instead, “political considerations override reality on the ground. In most cases, hospitals are haphazardly set up at the whims of a politician for political mileage and not according to the needs of communities”, said Tobias Kichari, a researcher at the Family Linkage International.

To make matters worse, the report says that although the country has excellent health policies in the region, presence of two ministries in charge of health---the Ministry of Public Health and Sanitation and Ministry of Medical services, with opposing policies pose the greatest challenge.

Often, says the report, healthcare regulatory systems are uncoordinated, very fragmented and are spread under different health legislation thus lacking harmony and are difficult to coordinate.

He said this scenario obtains because the country’s strategic development plans are formulated at attracting donor funding and not tailored to meet the needs of the community.

Corruption too affects health service delivery. Only recently, the government confessed that up to 30 per cent of national resources are lost after allocation.

Samuel Kimeu, Executive Director of Transparency International says the effect of these loses are felt by the poorest in society.

Kimeu said, quite unlike the education, wildlife and forestry sectors that have strong community involvement, few Kenyans understand how the health sector is run.

“There is need to involve members of public and civil society organisations in both planning, implementing and monitoring of health programmes”, he said.