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{
    "id": 193498,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/193498/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 80,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Mr. Kimunya",
    "speaker_title": "The Minister for Finance",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 174,
        "legal_name": "Amos Muhinga Kimunya",
        "slug": "amos-kimunya"
    },
    "content": "Further, we will continue to promote expansion of day schools and ensure that they offer quality education. I have also allocated an extra Kshs1.56 billion towards the recruitment of additional teachers for both primary and secondary schools. The Government will also work out the modalities of a teaching internship programme to utilise the graduates of teaching colleges before they are absorbed by the Teachers Service Commission. The Ministry of Education will be bringing us more details on how we will incorporate all those people into our schools to ensure that we have quality education while they are getting utilised and getting practical teaching experience. Mr. Speaker, Sir, we will continue to take steps to streamline the implementation of the Free Education Programme based on experiences learnt so far in order to ensure that the country derives the maximum benefits from this investment. The Government has continued to improve both the quality and access to healthcare services countrywide and has made significant progress in a number of areas. In particular, we have expanded the treatment and prevention of HIV/AIDS which has resulted in the HIV/AIDS prevalence dropping from a high of 13 per cent to just about 5 per cent, with improved access to maternal health with over 2.6 million women accessing family planning services and enhanced immunization coverage now standing at over 75 per cent. We have also reduced malaria burden by providing for free, over 3.4 million treated mosquito nets to protect children and pregnant women. The Government has, in addition to these reforms, continued to expand the healthcare infrastructure with over 600 dispensaries that were constructed through CDF having been registered and 300 of them having been made fully operational. Mr. Speaker, Sir, despite the progress we have achieved in the health sector, we recognise that more needs to be done to further improve quality of these services in order to improve the health and productivity of our people. In this regard, the Government will review the Public Health Act, so as to consolidate the 23 different public health laws into a single Act of Parliament. We will also table in this House policy papers on healthcare financing, Health Services Commission and decentralised funding for health care facilities. In addition to the reforms lined up for June 12, 2008 PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES 1151 implementation in the sector, we will absorb the 600 nursing staff currently on contract services under the various donor supported health projects."
}