Bwana Speaker, Kenya is ailing, in pain, and burying its children at a growing rate. Burying the people we labored to care for as we watch their life slowly ebb away. We have organized harambees, pleaded our cases on social media, and cried over milk we knew spilled way before we could break the seal.
Even those that flew overseas to receive treatment have rested six feet under. We are no longer talking in hush tones, because cancer’s lethality is making headlines using prominent faces. What we are not saying is that we need a better healthcare system and not just against cancer!
The top causes of morbidity and mortality in Kenya are infectious diseases such as HIV/AIDS & Tuberculosis, followed by cardiovascular diseases and cancer comes in third. All these diseases have made headlines and spread national fear, cancer just happens to be what is current. Not to trivialize the fact that cancer is a growing national disaster but we have to understand that it’s riding on our lack of a proper healthcare system. There are gaps in human resource, monitoring and evaluation and financial accountability that cannot be overlooked.
As EKAR we bench our remarks on the Angaza Kifafa Epilepsy campaign which has successfully covered 15 countries addressing the pain points of Epilepsy in the country. Through effective advocacy and communication, we have helped narrow the treatment gap between what is being done for people with Epilepsy and what should be done. We have helped improve how people with Epilepsy are perceived, accepted, and valued in society. More so, it has helped ensure that people with epilepsy and their families have access to full life experiences. Can’t we do the same with an entire healthcare system?
Mrs. Margaret from Machakos, as featured on NTV, has been living, no surviving, with breast cancer for the past 15 years. She cannot afford to either fly it off overseas or get the proper medication here in Kenya. She is living off antibiotics! Her children abandoned her on myth ideology that they would catch the dreadful curse that is cancer. Her story among many others highlights the price of healthcare on the common mwananchi. What it does not make obvious, is the cost of health that the government needs to prioritize or improve.
Kenyans everyday get hit by massive, and unexpected, out-of-pocket medical expenses with insurance covers doing only so much to help with cover. A survey report found that self-sponsored medical insurance cover is still out of the reach of ordinary citizens who are not in formal employment. The survey by an insurance brokerage firm, Minet Kenya, revealed a general inflation in 2017, which stood at 8.02 per cent, way below medical inflation which stood at 12 per cent. To mean Kenyans spent most of their annual incomes paying for their families’ healthcare, more than what they spent on food, rent and other basic necessities.
Kenyans need access to a strong, efficient, well-run health system that promotes prevention of illness and healthy living, detects illnesses early and has the capacity to treat them and rehabilitate patients. Preventive care will be less costly for both the patient and the Country.
The mama mboga at home may not be able to travel overseas to get treatment. Even if she does, it may take pay bill numbers and harambees that are becoming a burden to families and well-wishers. We need a system that provides essential medicines and technologies to diagnose and treat medical problems. The system should also employ a sufficient supply of well-trained and motivated health workers to provide services that meet the patients’ needs in the best way possible.
The same Kenyans should also be able to access health services regardless of their geographical location.
Experts say that, health workers in primary healthcare facilities fail to refer cancer patients for specialized treatment early, due to lack of awareness of symptoms. Case point reflecting why many cancer stories revolve on late diagnosis. By the time a patient is getting an accurate cancer diagnosis, they have undergone treatment for a different ailment so many times. Therefore, by the time they are referred to an oncologist the condition is at its hopeless stages.
Reason we need a health education and training plan especially for the mid-level health workers as they are the majority healthcare providers in the system. A human resource plan will need to be developed to better staff in the lower health facilities for effective primary health care. This can be achieved through trainings and mentorship programs across the country. Investment would be worthwhile as they require shorter training courses, and they are less dependent on technology and investigations in their practice. Ultimately training across the entire health system needs updating in relevance to the advances in the healthcare field.
Data by the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics (KNBS) and the Kenya Institute for Public Policy Research and Analysis (KIPPRA) show that despite the remarkable expansion of healthcare infrastructure by counties, the number of facilities and workforce remain inadequate to cater for demand by a steadily rising population in need of such services.
The public health officers and technical council chairman, Simon Kimani speaking at Mount Kenya University said that the country has 4000 registered public health officers against a population of approximately 45 million citizens. This reflects a severe shortage of health officers and technicians at all levels of service delivery.
The health system should give a frame for sector-wide approach arrangement and bring flexibility for rapid disbursement of budgetary resources. This would help ensure that health facilities have access to; the requisite services and resources, highly trained human resource, and proper infrastructure.
We also need to strengthen the monitory evaluation and reporting system to ensure proper implementation and improvement opportunities. More so, Kenya needs to change how it purchases healthcare, to make it more strategic, thus reducing wastage. For example, resources could be more dedicated towards commodity security, especially for vaccines, reproductive health commodities, and essential drugs.
EKAR came up with an effective epilepsy awareness campaign that initiated proper training of doctors, ensuring hospitals at county level are equipped with medication to treat Epilepsy patients and increasing the number of citizens going in to nearby hospitals to seek consultation, treatment and medication. This was a significant shift for local communities. Many cases reflected communities who had lived with the epilepsy condition under different perception such as witchcraft, or a curse. A good communication and advocacy plan will help iron out present challenges and derive better options for the entire healthcare system.
All these factors nonetheless, will require political good will and proper allocation of resources. More importantly, we need every stakeholder having their hands on this. It takes more than one person to make a difference.
