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{
    "id": 943892,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/943892/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 101,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Sen. (Prof.) Ongeri",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 124,
        "legal_name": "Samson Kegeo Ongeri",
        "slug": "samson-ongeri"
    },
    "content": "What are we looking at from this community worker? We should build them or capacitate them with simple basic tools that can do health measurements. They should be able to know if that child has been immunised or not. There are certain basic diseases like malaria that need to be immunised. We now have a vaccine in some of the areas. Tuberculosis has a very critical immunisation process and that includes measles. When I was a practicing doctor, there was a time when all our outpatients were abated by measles. More than 80 per cent patients in the outpatient clinics were suffering from measles. When we went in for effective immunisation, we were able to reduce that figure to a very manageable level. Today, you hardly see cases of measles because immunisation succeeded. Children are immunised at birth and we also have repeat immunisation being done after some years which boosts up their immunity. Therefore, immunisation forms a very important function for the community health worker and that community worker needs to be given the tools that will help him or her know when the children were immunised. They also need tools that will help them detect the onset of a disease or a problem for them to alert the next higher level trained manpower in health organisations who can then take stock of what must happen. The other thing that is critical when it comes to community health workers is the monitoring of nutrition. Nutritional care and nutritional support to the young children of this nation can cut off 50 per cent of the diseases that happen in this country. Kwashiorkor allows dangerous diseases to invade the poor children who quickly succumb because of low immunity. Therefore, nutritional requirement for these children is critical. How does one monitor the nutritional level? Some of the parents need to be educated on simple methods of growing food that are rich in vitamins, carbohydrates, proteins and fats. That is what we refer to as a balanced diet. They do not have to go and buy them from the shelves. They can grow the fruits in their backyards and be able to comfortably feed their children. They can also spare a glass of milk for their children for them to get enough calcium for the growth of their bones rather than succumb to early childhood diseases as a result of low immunity or as a result of not taking a balanced diet. The community worker can also perform that function. What does it take? This is a policy matter. It is a conscious decision by the national Government and the county governments. To do that, they can train effective manpower, human resources and be able to capacitate them to do certain skills. We must define those skills one by one. I have already gone through a catalogue of those skills that we need to focus on such as the monitoring standards, values of growth of a child to help detect early growth stunting and the problems that are associated with that stunting and the onset of infectious diseases that come as a result of not immunising the children. 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."
}