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"id": 943863,
"url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/943863/?format=api",
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"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Sen. Murkomen",
"speaker_title": "The Senate Majority Leader",
"speaker": {
"id": 440,
"legal_name": "Onesimus Kipchumba Murkomen",
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"content": " Mr. Speaker, Sir, I support this Motion and congratulate Sen. Nyamunga for thinking through it. From the beginning, Kenya is undergoing great transformation in as far as the health sector is concerned. Even though we have the Universal Healthcare Policy and the programme that is being rolled out in about four counties now as pilot projects; even though we spent billions of money to ensure that we put equipment for diagnosing in our hospitals, I still think we are not getting it right. We are not getting it right because we are focussing on the treatment and not on the prevention. Mr. Speaker, Sir, community health workers – otherwise called lay health workers or village health workers in other countries – are very important people. This is because they live within the community. They are focused on dealing with problems that prevent diseases. When I grew up, I knew three people from my community that I thought were doctors. In fact, it took long for me to appreciate that they did not have any medical training from any institution. For example, there is an old man called Benjamin, who is like my father, and who is the father of my friend. There was another one called William, who was just next door; and there was a lady called Zipporah. These gentlemen and lady are still called Dr. William, Dr. Benjamin and Dr. Zipporah in our village; not to hide the fact that they did not step into any health institution, not even for a certificate. I am sure that other people can also say the same about their own communities. Mr. Speaker, Sir, these people just started working with missionaries in mission health centres. They learned through these missionaries the things that must be told to women when they come to give birth, and what they need to do with their children to prevent certain diseases. They learnt how to dress wounds, how to prevent tetanus and proliferation of certain diseases. They did a fantastic job, yet most of them were not being paid anything; they were just doing it for the satisfaction of it because they were helping their community. I appreciate the fact that Sen. Nyamunga has pointed out that it must start with a policy, but we must remember Schedule Four of the Constitution delineates policy as a function of the national Government. Even if the national Government will be supported by the CoG, county governments, the Senate and all other institutions, the Ministry of Health must take the lead. In the transformation that we are focusing on, even with the President’s Big Four Agenda, health being the priority, we must move from treatment to prevention. That is what we are told, and history is telling us that because of prevention, countries like Cuba are doing so well in healthcare. Mr. Speaker, Sir, in the 1990s, the Government of Brazil tried focusing on community health workers, and the results were tremendous. This is because they used to have deaths of 50 people for every 1,000 people. However, because of that policy, it moved from 50 to 29. They improved health access by 36 per cent in a period of less than five years. This is something that we must try. In fact, history and literature shows that community health workers are extremely important for urban areas like Nairobi, with this huge population; Kisumu, Mombasa, Nakuru and Eldoret. These are the cities that must start by focusing on community health workers. Community health workers are able to help our people by telling them this is the kind of water to drink. I remember that the same health workers I was telling you about The electronic version of the Senate Hansard Report is for information purposesonly. A certified version of this Report can be obtained from the Hansard Editor, Senate."
}