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{
    "id": 1484989,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1484989/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 251,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Seme, ODM",
    "speaker_title": "Hon. (Dr) James Nyikal",
    "speaker": null,
    "content": " Thank you, Hon. Temporary Speaker, for giving me an opportunity to second this Bill. We are actually considering this Bill for the second time. We previously had this debate in the Second Reading stage of the Bill, but it lapsed. This is an extremely important Bill even though we may not realise its importance now. The main objective of the Bill is to provide a regulatory framework for community health workers. Who is a community health worker? Why the word “community”? It has been realised that people do not get sick in hospitals but at home. Treatment in hospitals is an isolated event. Recovery is also affected by where and how you are treated. Even deciding when to go for treatment is a decision that is made in the community. It has been realised for many years that, all over the world, the community plays a big role in healthcare. To that extent, communities have been helping the sick people for many years. The most common ones are the traditional midwives, who help women to deliver babies at home. Hon. Temporary Speaker, there are all sorts of people in the community who advise on health matters. It was recognised that it would be extremely important to get a person in the community who would help community members to avoid diseases, get early detection of diseases, and advise on how and where to seek healthcare. The term “community health worker” has evolved over time and is utilised all over the world. In modern terms, who is a community health worker? The Bill recognises that a community health worker is a member of the community. They reside there. That is their home. They are known in the community and understand its culture. They understand the community’s behaviour towards illness, and they can help. Therefore, it was decided that we need to strengthen and capacitate them, so that they can actually do what they normally do. There is no community in this world where, if somebody falls sick, a member of the community does not turn up to help them. It was decided that we should train those people and give them some support, so that they can help people with some knowledge and capacity, and also link them with the health sector as we know it. That is the person we are calling a “community health worker”. He is a member of the community. The terminology has changed, particularly in this country, because of the way we look at them in terms of whether we should pay them or remunerate them in any way. In the Ministry of Health, what we are calling Level I hospital is actually a community strategy where all communities in Kenya have community units, each with a community health worker who supports the people, advises on health matters, and on when to seek help and how The electronic version of the Official Hansard Report is for information purposesonly. A certified version of this Report can be obtained from the Hansard Editor."
}