MoH, AFYA TIMIZA LOC AND LOA SIGNING

KEMSA MEDICAL FACILITIES FLAG OFF

PICTORIALS

TURKANA COUNTY GOVERNMENT MINISTRY OF HEALTH ANDSANITATION

AFYA YETU NEWSLETTER JULY 2019

CEC JANE AJELE WITH OTHER MoH STAFFS WHILE FLAGGINGOFF MEDICAL EQUIPMENTS AT LCRH

INSIDE:BLOOD DONATION

UNIVERSAL HEALTH CARE IMPLEMENTATION

MoH, EGPAF LEAP SENSITIZATION PROGRAM

POLIO SIA ROUND ONE JULY 2019

MoH, AGAKHANPARNERSHIP

MoH, PSK PARNERSHIP

SCHOOL HEALTH PROGRAMIn line with the routine visits by Schools Health Program, the team lead by Mrs. Rael Akoru visited Nat-aparkakono Primary School with a population of more than 300 pupils the majority of the students being boys. Most girls drop out of schools for reasons attribut-ed to inadequate informa-tion on reproductive health. The same girls also lack information on; vulnerability to early sexual intercourse, teenage pregnancy, early marriages, HIV/AIDs and sexually transmitted infec-tions that could end their academic journey.

Mrs Akoru emphasised on the need of students to take care of themselves by shunning practices likely to ruin their lives includ-ing use of drugs and engaging in early and irresponsible sexual behaviours and called upon each of them to work extra hard in class to achieve the best later in life.

During the visit, the headmistress Mrs. Rebecca Lotonia called upon the MoH and other willing part-ners to develop a strategy through which health services can be availed to the pupils either on a full or part time basis. Alongside the health related ac-tivities, the School also practices small scale agriculture in the name of school Shamba which aimed at providing fast growing crops to the school as well as creating an avenue where pupils can learn basic but very important aspects in agricul-ture which has enabled students to practice the same at their homes. The School Shamba system also aims at promoting the health of students and the community at large by adopting farming of crops rich in vitamins and minerals thus supplementing their diet.

COUNTY MoH, AGA KHAN PLANNING TO EXPAND SPECIALISED MEDICAL SERVICES IN TURKANA

Leadership of theCounty MoH led by CEC Hon. Jane Ajele and the CCO Dr. Roberts Abok re-ceived a delegation of offi-cials from Aga Khan Univer-sity Hospital at the health headquarters in Lodwar in the month of July to explore the possibility on partner-ship on various areas of mutual interest.Aga Khan University hospi-tal team was led by the head of outreach Mr Jamal and his assistant Mr. Mburu. The Aga Khan Delegation expressed interest in estab-lishing a specialised inpa-tient and outpatient medical facility within

Lodwar town to offer telera-diology and specialist med-ical consultancy services in the near future.The delegation further hinted at the possibility of providing support towards accelerating realization of full UHC status in Turkana countyCEC Hon Ajele expressed her gratitude towards the visit and guaranteed support of the county towards the good plans of the Aga Khan University hospitalCCO Dr. Roberts Abok add-ed that retention of spe-cialist medical providers in the county of Turkana and Kenya as a whole has been a challenge.

He commended Aga Khan for establishing measures to reduce the brain drain by offering the medics an op-portunity to serve in their facilitiesThe meeting was also at-tended by the county direc-tor for medical services Dr. Gilchrist Lokoel and the Ag director policy, planning, monitoring and evaluation Sarah Lokaala.

MOH TURKANA HOSTS PARTNERS ANDSTAKEHOLDERS ON UNIVERSAL HEALTH CARE IMPLEMENTATION

The CEC for health Hon. Jane Ajele and CCO Dr Roberts Abok led the dele-gation of county ministry of health on an engagement meeting with health part-ners, sister county minis-tries and other stakeholders on finalization of the Univer-sal Health Coverage (UHC ) road map and its implemen-tation in Turkana County.The meeting brought togeth-er all members of county health management com-mittee , sister ministries representatives and part-ners including NHIF, Amref, UNICEF, save the children, CMLAP II among others to discuss measures to be taken in ensuring that UHC becomes a reality in Turkana.Speaking during the meeting, chief officer Dr Roberts Abok noted that the best UHC approach for the county is the one that leverages on the community health strategy

and engagement of Community Health Volunteers(CHVs).Dr Abok further noted that the nomadic and pastrolist lifestyle of the local population as well as the distance between health facilities should be taken into account when thinking about the UHC strategy.

THE COUNTYWIDE POLIO CAMPAIGN IN TURKANAThe County MoH successfully concluded a five day round one ountywide Oral Polio Vaccination (OPV) campaign between 13th to 17th July 2019 targeting about 200,000 children of age 0-5 years.For the first time in many years, the 2019 polio SIA compaign was also supported by the ACSM strat-egy for which Mr. Afred Ikeny Emanman praised as ground-breaking.The Director called on all the con-cerned parties to embrace research and innovation in the process of executing their advocacy duties so as to realize continued improve-ment and this approach really worked as translated by the tar-gets that were attained during the whole exercise. Head of the County Health Pro-motions Unit, Kwaba Omwenga emphasized the need to reach all the intended population by uti-lizing the known social structures such as school, mosque/churches, market places and grazing fields to ensure that all eligible children attended and the vaccine adminis-tered to them.The ACSM planning meeting revisited challenges experienced in the past in respect to; wide geo-graphical coverage, the capacity of manpower and facilities in con-ducting vaccination

program. Gaps were identified and appropriate solutions suggested for improvement.On 12th July 2019 the County MoH launched a the countywide polio vaccination campaign in Lodwar. The launch was presided over by the deputy director for health services in the county Mr. Esimit DanielThe five days program was official-ly scheduled to start on Saturday the 13th and end on Wednesday the 17th July 2019.During the launch, Director Esimit confirmed that measures to vaccinate and to reach the target population were in place.The ceremony was also attended by the SCMoH for Turkana central Joel Lochor, SCDPHN for central, head of Community Health vol-unteers focal person Lucas Edete, county health promotions officer Kwaba Omwenga as well as officers from UNICEF, UNOPs, IRC and WHO.The polio vaccination exercise took place from 13th to 17th July in all the Sub Counties in Turkana through the assistance of the Com-munity Health Volunteers who worked in hand with the MoH staff and other stakeholders in ensuring efficiency in the administration of polio vaccine in the County.Amidst the various challenges including unfavourable climat-ic conditions that posed a great challenge especially when moving in the remote parts of the coun-ty, the various teams managed to reach all the intended populations and vaccinated eligible children.

The countywide polio vaccination exercise could not have been a success were it not for the support from UNICEF, UNOPs, IRC and Turkana County MoH. Special thanks to all who joined hands in this fight against Polio.

EGPAF, MoH PARTNERSHIP ON LEAP SENSITIZATION

The Turkana county min-istry of health in collabora-tion with Elizabeth Glaser Paediatric AIDS Foundation jointly launched a rapid re-sult initiative program called LEAP aimed at accelerating implementation of strategies to reduce HIV/AIDs preva-lence in the county from the current 3.2%.The LEAP program was launched at a sensitization meeting attended by the CEC hon. Jane Ajele, the Chief officer for health Dr. Roberts Abok and all mem-bers of the senior manage-ment committee of health in the County LEAP will be a three months program based on a host of strategies such as partner notification strat-egy (PNS), linkages to

ART and optimized defaulter tracing among others.

During the launch, the CEC Hon. Jane Ajele pledged support of the ministry in respect to making relevant communication for the es-tablishment of functional county multi sectoral coordi-nation teamsDr. Roberts Abok added that the ministry has already developed advanced mech-anism for integrating health Care programs that LEAP will leverage on to meet its goals.The program has been de-signed in such a way that the key component of con-fidentiality and consent in administering HIV/AIDS testing and notification of partners.

Key indicators of the pro-gram will be number tested, number of new positives identified and statistics in respect to PNS strategy.

Similar rapid results initia-tives launched by the county ministry of health in collab-oration with Afya Nyota ya Bonde were highly success-ful in Turkana south and Turkana East.

THE BLOOD DONATION EXERCISEWith the expansion of Lod-war County and Referral Hospital, demand for blood has highly increased this being attributed frequent ac-cidents, increased ability to conduct surgical operations among many other health related complications. MoH Turkana has taken a delib-erate step to solicit blood from institutions and the general public to meet the increased demand.The first phase of blood do-nation exercise was official-ly launched by the Deputy County Secretary Mr. Loyelei at LCRC and later joined by the rest of LCRH staff who managed to donate more than 70 pints of blood as was confirmed by Mr. Ed-ward Mutebi, an officer from the County Blood Banks Satellite Unit.During the world blood do-nation day marked on 14th June every year, the LCRH team led by Mr. Benjamin Lowoko, the Head of Labora-tory Services paid a visit to Combony Girls’ where more than 60 pints of blood were donated by both students and staff.

Alongside side the blood donation exercise, Combony Girls’ was also given a certificate of recognition as a Certified Blood Donation Centre in Turkana County. While handing over the certificate to the school management, Mr. Lowoko extended his gratitude to the school for their commitment in ensuring lives are saved by taking the bold step of donating blood.The mass blood donation cam-paign in the county was climaxed on 21ST June 2019 as the Speaker Turkana County Assembly Rt. Hon. Erastus Lokaale led the MCAs to donate blood and later crowned the 2019 blood donation champion in Turkana.The ceremony was officially opened by Turkana county CEC Health Hon. Jane Ajele. Also in attendance was the Chief officer MoH Dr. Roberts Abok among others.

The county CEC called upon the national government to strengthen the lodwar satellite blood transfus-sion centre for improved capacity to undertake independent blood screening without relying on el-doret MTRH.On his part Rt. Hon Lokaale called upon all leaders and members of the public to develop a habit of do-nating blood on a regular basis as this will help in meeting the grow-ing demand for blood in the health facilities and save more lives.The blood donation campaign was concluded with an impressive total of more than 160 pints of blood having been collected which is a good move in ensuring no deaths related to blood shortage are expe-rienced in Turkana county and in any other part so long as we are in a position to assist. This exercise could not have been a success were it not for the support and com-bined efforts by Kenya Redcross, International Rescue Committee, Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric founda-tion and the MoH Turkana.

COUNTYGOVERNMENT, AFYA TIMIZA SIGN LETTER OF COMMITMENT AND AGREEMENT ON IMPLEMENTATION OF THE HEALTH PROGRAMME.

The County Government signed two agreements with Amref Kenya to further collabo-ration under the USAID-funded health project, Afya Timiza.Deputy County Secretary Robert Loyelei presided over the sign-ing of a Letter of Agreement on Afya Timiza Supported Contract Health Workers; and a Letter of Commitment on the project’s Technical Assistance Package; which was witnessed by the Amref Health in Kenya Board of Directors led by its Chairperson Dr. Eunice Mathu.

The Letter of Agreement (LOA) seeks to address human resource gaps in the county health sector through the Donor Supported Contract Health Workers Program through which 59 health work-ers will be contracted by Amref, through Afya Timiza, and be dis-tributed in the three sub-counties where the project is implemented- Turkana South, Loima and Kibish.The Letter of Commitment signed between the County Health Department and Afya Timiza “outlines specific nature of col-laboration between the parties” including specific commitments to be achieved by either party in areas of health facilities and community units, maternal and newborn health, family planning, child health, adolescent and youth health, community health ser-vices, Water sanitation and hy-giene (WASH) and health system strengthening.

DCS Loyelei appreciated the partnership and said the Coun-ty Government supported such programmes that contributed to development objectives contained in the second County Integrated Development Plan (CIDP). He admitted that the County still faced shortage in health human resource despite the considerable investment in the sector, and said the joint Donor Supported Con-tract Health Workers Programme will support the County Govern-ment to solve this health workers’ shortage.

collaboration with the County Assembly and strengthen health systems in the county.She said the organisation was carrying out an audit of the Lomi-dat Abattoir to facilitate a handing over of the facility to the County Government.County Health and Sanitation Executive Jane Ajele thanked Afya Timiza for its support of the department to develop the road-map for universal healthcare and assured of continued joint plan-ning and supervision of health programmes.

He added that strengthen-ing of capacity building was key to ensure sustainabil-ity of health services and commended Amref and Afya Timiza for working with communities in remote ar-eas. He applauded Amref for its long history of working in Turkana and changing lives of residents for a period spanning four decades.

Dr. Mathu said the agreements signed would strengthen partner-ship with the County Government, as Amref looked to further collab-oration in specific areas including development of the Universal Healthcare (UHC) programme, amendment of the Health Bill to introduce a proposed Facility Im-provement Fund through

The Turkana county Ministry of Health and Sanitation has partnered with Populations Services Kenya (PSK) to scale up uptake of family planning services among populations living in Turkana.

The five year program intends to reach out to the women of reproductive age through involvement of their spouses to consider taking up family planning services.

While speaking at the initial meeting of the partnership agreement, Director Alfred Ikeny Emaniman informed the PSK team of the existing CHS strategy that the pro-gram can rely on for demand creation.

He further reiterated the existence of a strong health promotions unit in the coun-ty to facilitate awareness creation and public educa-tion on the significance of family planning services.

The program will be implemented in both private and public health facilities.The roll out proposed to base their program on a wide range of family planning options and intergrated medical outreaches throughout the county in partnership with Amref health organization.During the program, family plan-ning service providers will be identified, trained and facilitated to undertake effective implementa-tion, monitoring and evaluation as well as data quality audit.

On job training and coach-ing will form an portant part to arrest the possible turn-over of initially trained ser-vice providers.Support supervision will be continuously conducted by the division of family health services and a team of ex-perts from PSK and Amref health organization.

MOH TO STRENGTHEN FAMILY PLANNING SERVICESTHROUGH PARTNERSHIP WITH PSK

“Investing in Family planning is fundamen-tal to achieving Kenya’s health and development goals. When women in developing nations have the ability (access and right to contraception) to space out their preg-nancies by at least three years, their babies are twice as likely to reach their first birthday.” PSKENYA

PICTORIALS

Director Lowoko giving a Certified Blood Donation Centre certificate to combony girls management during the blood donation exercise at Combony Girls’ Blood Donation exercise at Com-

bony Girls’ on 14th June 2019

Loima SMOH Dr Getrude Nasike administering OPV

Director Esimit leading OPV adminstration

LCRH administrator speaking during staff performance appraisal meeting

Polio Launch at Napetet

Head of MoH communication Speaking during the staff performance appraisal meeting

Director Alfred Emanman Chairing a meeting at MoH Headquaters.

Leap sensitization meetingPolio Administration in Loima sub countyLCRH staff mentorship at Stegra

OPV Exercise at Lokiriama

CCO Dr. Roberts Abok speakingduring Leap sensitization meeting

Health facilities in Turkana County have been supplied with essential drugs and medical equipment straight from Kenya Medical Sup-plies Agency (KEMSA) which started on Monday 1st July 2019.The Turkana County Gov-ernment fast tracked this back order as part of all 228 health facilities and 167 community health units es sential drugs preparedness efforts to cushion the people of Turkana during the July -September 2019 Period.

The medical supplies worth more than Ksh. 22 million were officially be flagged off by CEC Health, Hon Jane Ajele accompanied by Director medical supplies Dr. Epem and all the county and sub county pharmacists at the Sub County levels.Receiving and acceptance committees were set up to verify the quality of drugs and other essential supplies as per the requirements of the public procurement requirements.

AFYA YETU NEWSLETTER IS A MONTHLY PUBLICATION FOR THE MoH TURKANA

The essential supply ensures all health facilities in the county have drugs for the next 6 months in place.

EDITORS:OTIENO SADDATEDUNG PAULMAWANG JOHN

PHOTOGRAPHY:OTIENO SADDATEDUNG PAUL

FLAG OFF OF MEDICAL EQUIPMENTS TOSUB-COUNTIES AT LCRH

@MoHTurkana

EDITORIAL TEAM