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Health CS Sicily Kariuki
Kenya will require Sh11 billion over the next four years to hire community health volunteers.
The volunteers will play the biggest role in the Universal Health Coverage, because they provide primary and health promotion services.
The Ministry of Health said the country needs about 100,000 volunteers.
“Currently all counties have CHVs, but the problem is the coverage, we only have 80,000,” acting head of the Community Health and Development Services unit at the Ministry of Health, Daniel Kavoo, said. He spoke yesterday during the Reproductive, Maternal, Newborn, Child health and Nutrition conference organised by World Vision in Nairobi.
The volunteers are hired by county governments and each is paid a token of Sh2,000 every month.
“Sh2,000 might look like a small figure but the reason counties are balking at hiring more is because on average, this leaves each county with a wage bill of Sh5 million to Sh10 million every month,” Kavoo said.
He said Kenya also needs 20,000 health workers hired by the national government to coordinate the 100,000 volunteers.
“We currently have 1,750. We have a stop gap measure so we are using nurses and environment officers to do that work,” he said.
The workers who have a certificate in community development or a related field will be hired at job group G, which is the lowest for health workers.
Alice Yugi, the nutrition and child health expert at World Vision Kenya said without the volunteers, Kenya will not improve her nutrition, maternal and child health indicators.
“The CHVs boost maternal and child health by sensitising mothers on the need for good nutrition during pregnancy and once the child is born,” she said.
In the UHC rollout, the volunteers will be trained by the national government but will be compensated by the counties.They will serve in their own villagers. Recently, Health CS Sicily Kariuki said the right number of volunteers countrywide will be determined after the UHC pilot.