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Governor Mutula Kilonzo Jnr: We will ensure enough budget for HIV/AIDS prevention and treatment in the next 2023/2024 Financial Year

Makueni Governor H.E Mutula Kilonzo Jnr on Thursday joined various stakeholders, public and community partners involved in HIV/AIDS prevention and treatment in marking this year’s World Aids Day at Wote, Makueni Sub-County.
With the theme, “Equalize”, the Governor underscored the need for increased knowledge of HIV and access to treatment with a call to ending stigma so as to allow people access services without fear.
“We have attained impressive results so far, 70% of Makuenians living with HIV are aware of their HIV status. Of those who know their status, 94% are on HIV treatment and 92% of those on treatment have achieved viral suppression. We can end stigma and allow those scared of accessing services to do so without fear of discrimination,” the Governor said.
The Governor called on the Department of Health to ensure funds are allocated in the next financial year for HIV/AIDS related services.

CIHEB allocates Sh. 108M to Makueni for HIV, TB prevention and treatment

The Center for International Health Education and Biosecurity (CIHEB) has allocated Sh. 108M to Makueni county health services docket for HIV prevention and treatment services, the organization’s CEO Dr. Emily Koech has announced.

The institution is implementing a 5-year workplan for disease control and prevention funded program dubbed ‘The partnership for advanced care and treatment’ in the Lower Eastern region.

Dr. Koech led his CIHEB team on Monday to pay a courtesy call to governor Mutula Kilonzo Jnr and his deputy Lucy Mulili with their discussions centered on comprehensive HIV and TB treatment.

Since last year, the organization funded Makueni through the county health management team to a tune of Sh. 112M to provide services and activities highlighted below.

● Provision of HIV prevention interventions for general and key populations including HIV pre-exposure prophylaxis(PrEP) services and gender-basedHIV-exposed violence

●Provision of High-quality targeted HIV testing services (HTS) leading to the identification and linkage of HIV-infected individuals.

● Provision of HIV prevention and treatment services for pregnant and breast-feeding women and HIV-exposedlast infants.

● Provision of quality patient-centered HIV care and treatment services for PLHIV, including management of commodities.

● Strengthening of health systems to support the delivery of HIV and TB related services including laboratory systems, commodity management and monitoring and evaluation systems.gender-based

Bill Gates visits healthcare workers in Makueni

Bill Gates the co-founder of Microsoft and co-chair of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation visited Makueni County on a discovery trip to see the impact of Primary Health Care in the County.

Accompanied by Makueni Governor Mutula Kilonzo Junior, Bill Gates visited the Kathonzweni Level 3 hospital where he met with medical staff and Community Health Volunteers and later toured the mother and Child Care unit at the Makueni County Referral Hospital.

Makueni County has enlisted a significant number of Community Health Volunteers who have contributed to better prenatal care and safer deliveries in the region.
The County health team presented some of the key steps taken to improve service delivery, monitor the purchase and distribution of health commodities as well as steps the County took to ensure the facilities remained open for immunizations even during the Covid -19 pandemic.
Governor Mutula lauded the County health workers for using data to manage health care and health commodities.
Further, the County has shortened access to medical facilities for the residents and introduced a system where health centers can re-invest the cash paid for services in running costs and improvements required.

Governor Mutula flags off Shs 90M Medical Supplies

Makueni Governor Mutula Kilonzo Junior and KEMSA Chief Executive Officer Terry Ramadhani on Monday flagged off Shs 90M worth of medical supplies for all 238 health facilities in Makueni.
The event took place at the Mother and Child Hospital, Wote, and was also graced by Senator Daniel Maanzo and Deputy Governor Lucy Mulili.
The supply is the Financial Year 2022/2023 quarter one order of health commodities and constitutes of essential and specialist drugs, non-pharmaceuticals and laboratory commodities.
Governor Mutula Jnr said the huge investment in healthcare is geared towards attaining the highest possible health standards in a manner responsive to the Makueni population needs.
The governor said his administration is committed to increasing efficiency in the management of the health commodity supply chain to ensure sustainability and resilience.
“To this end, we intend to enhance health commodity stock visibility through automating inventory management to achieve end-to-end visibility. This shall enable faster turnaround time for quantification, ordering and distribution of health products and technologies to ensure continuous availability,” he said.
To enhance efficiency and effectiveness in healthcare provision, the governor last month commissioned a unique model of operation dubbed Reverse Referral, which entails medical specialists going to the field to offer specialist services in remote facilities.
This, he said, will reduce the pressure at the county refferal hospital and the expenses incurred by residents travelling all the way to Wote.
 

Governor Mutula Orders Specialist Medics to Leave Offices for the Field

Governor Mutula Kilonzo Jnr has ordered more than 58 medical heads out of their comfortable offices in Wote to offer services to wananchi in local health facilities.
 
Through a programme dubbed Makueni Public Health Week, the medical officers will be required to routinely choose one or more health facilities in the county and camp there for a whole week offering specialized healthcare services.
 
Directors and Medical Superintendents in the Health Services department will lead the campaign and monitor how health services and medicines are dispensed at the facilities.
 
Governor Mutula Jnr said the decision was borne from the realization that the county has a huge number of talented medical specialists whose services are not available to the residents.
 
He said it was pitiful that such specialists operate only from the county headquarters and in offices while residents are forced to seek services elsewhere at exorbitant costs. 
 
The Public Health Week begins on Wednesday 14th September 2022 in Mbooni sub-county.

Makueni, NACADA Agree to a Joint Offensive Against Drug Abuse

National Authority for the Campaign Against Drug Abuse(NACADA) has pledged support to Makueni County in dealing with alcoholism and drug abuse which is highly prevalent in the county.
 
During a courtesy call to Deputy Governor Lucy Mulili in her office, Wote, on Monday, NACADA Chief Executive Officer Victor Okioma said the authority will support Makueni in policy and legal frameworks, training of recovery coaches to mentor victims as well as capacity building for the personnel involved in the campaign.
 
Mulili said the County Government is working to establish a recovery centre where victims will be treated and fully rehabilitated.

Makueni County links tech systems with KEMSA to ensure health supplies efficiency.

Makueni County Governor Mutula Kilonzo Jnr has kicked off efforts to streamline the procurement of health commodities to boost healthcare delivery in the county.
 
The streamlining efforts will involve integrating and enhancing information technology (IT) based systems to power the procurement and distribution of health commodities. 
 
Speaking when he paid a courtesy call to Kenya Medical Supplies Authority (KEMSA) Chief Executive Officer Ms. Terry Ramadhani, Kilonzo Jnr said the county has undertaken to seal all loopholes facilitating loss of health commodities.
 
Based on an immediate needs assessment, the county, he said, has placed a Kshs 30 million order for essential medical supplies with KEMSA. The order comprises Oncology, Renal, surgical and related items, including Laboratory, Radiology, Dental and Linen items.
 
While imploring KEMSA leadership to provide the necessary support, the county, he added, will maintain a prudent just-in-time procurement plan for health supplies to avoid overstocking and stockout scenarios.
 
“In Makueni County, we have committed to providing the best healthcare possible. This cannot be possible if we continue to lose medicines ordered from KEMSA or cannot account for the supplies delivered,” he said. He added, “We have immediate plans to fully integrate our technology systems to provide end-to-end visibility and enhance our procurement planning and budget cycles.”
 
On her part, KEMSA CEO Ms Ramadhani welcomed Makueni County’s commitment to adopt technology systems and confirmed that the Authority is now banking on IT systems in its operations. The county, she said, will be seamlessly linked to the KEMSA Logistics Management Information System (LMIS) and the KEMSA Electronic Proof of Deliveries (e-POD App).
 
She said that by integrating systems, KEMSA and Makueni County would enjoy end-to-end visibility of the pharmaceutical inventories across the health commodities value chain.
 
“The focus by Makueni County to ensure a system-wide assurance of all deliveries from KEMSA is a welcome development. Such systems alignments will allow KEMSA and Makueni county to enjoy mutual integrity assurances and curb losses or financial inefficiencies including overstocking or delayed procurement,” she said. Adding that, “These systems will facilitate better operating information visibility across the supply chain system and contribute to inventory accuracy at the operating levels.” 
 
In the current order placed by Makueni, 240 rural health facilities, and 13 hospitals spread across the county’s six sub-Counties, will receive their supplies next week to boost primary and secondary healthcare goals.

KIBWANA UNVEILS CANCER UNIT AT MAKUENI REFERRAL HOSPITAL

Makueni County on Thursday opened doors to its first cancer treatment and management clinic at the Makueni Referral Hospital, Wote.

The clinic is courtesy of the EMPOWER PROJECT, a partnership bringing together Roche, International Cancer Institute (ICI), Women for Cancer and African Cancer Foundation.

The County First Ladies Association (CFLA) was key in realizing the clinic by mobilizing all the partners and resources including the county government and Family Bank which donated five Chemotherapy chairs for the cancer unit.

Speaking at the event, governor Kivutha Kibwana said his administration will commit adequate budgetary provisions for essential supplies and human resources to ensure that the rising burden of cancer in Makueni is reversed.

He said that before establishment of the unit, patients used to travel to Kenyatta National Hospital and private facilities for diagnosis and treatment of cancer. This, he said, was expensive and time consuming. It was associated with delays, with patients sometimes missing treatment due to long queues as well as lack of follow up and poor outcomes

So far, the county government has seconded an Oncologist Pharmacist, 2 clinical officers, one nurse and one records officer for the coordination of the unit. Further, it is in the process of recruiting 2 oncology clinical officers, 2 oncology nurses, a radiologist and a pathologist to support the increasing traffic at the centre.

Makueni becomes the fifth county to unveil the EMPOWER CANCER CLINIC after Kisumu, Bungoma, Meru and Taita Taveta.

CFLA chairperson Maria Mbeneka (Laikipia) said the aim of pushing for establishment of the cancer clinics in counties is to enhance early cancer detection, treatment and management while reducing the prohibitive costs of treatment.

The event at the Mother and Child Hospital in Wote was graced by 15 county first ladies among them host Nazi Kivutha, Edna Lenku-Kajiado, Sarah Tunai-Narok, Saline Barchok-Bomet, Wato Kuti-Isiolo, Elizabeth Kinyanjui-Nakuru and Sheila Sang-Nandi.

Others were Priscilla Murungi- Meru, Priscilla Oparanya-Kakamega, Christine Mvurya-Kwale, Dorothy Nyong’o- Kisumu, Stellah Samboja- Taita Taveta and Ivy Bunei of Baringo County.

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Partnership sees more NCDs patients seek medical attention

Over 6000 hypertension and diabetes patients across the county have been screened, with 2000 of them already enrolled to digital-health enabled mode of care in a bid to provide an integrated end-to -end solution for Non-Communicable Diseases burden in Makueni.
 
This is as a result of a 2-year public private partnership that was signed 7 months ago by the County government of Makueni, Novartis Social Business, Medtronic Labs and Management Sciences for Health geared towards combating NCDs in the county.
 
Several community health workers and volunteers, as part of capacity building and strengthening of the health system, have been trained on Ministry of Health’s NCD clinical training as well as using the Empower Health System, a digital platform for managing and monitoring patients.
 
During a review meeting on the implementation status of the MoU, chaired by Makueni county Governor Kivutha Kibwana and attended by representatives from the parties on Tuesday in Wote, the County health department reported nine out of ten initially planned health facilities are operational with Empower Health system.
 
The facilities include Makindu, Matiliku, Mukuyuni, Kibwezi, Kisau, Mbooni, Tawa, Sultan-Hamud and Mtito-Andei Sub-County hospitals.
 
According to the County Health Director Medical Services Dr. Stephen Ndolo, plans are underway to connect the Makueni County Referral and Kambu Sub-County Hospitals to the digital care platform.
 
The parties are working to scaling up the program to reach out to more people and reduce on the hospital deaths caused by NCDs.

Makueni Universal Health Care receives Funding to boost medical supplies

The Makueni Universal Health Care programme has received a Sh 100 million funding boost from the Ministry of Health to increase the supply of essential medicines and supplies.
 
The funding, which will be disbursed annually through Kenya Medical Supplies Authority, will complement the county’s essential medicine and supplies budgetary allocation to ensure that all the public health facilities are sufficiently stocked.
This was revealed on Monday during the signing of the Intergovernmental Participation Agreement on the implementation of universal health coverage in Kenya between the National Government through the Ministry of Health and the county government of Makueni.
 
The agreement was signed by Governor Kivutha Kibwana and Health Cabinet Secretary Sicily Kariuki at Afya House in Nairobi.
 
According to the deal, the county will also receive two special portable medical clinics to provide medical services within the informal settlements and hard to reach areas within the county.
 
The Ministry of Health, as part of the agreement, will facilitate the placement of 107 interns through the Public Service Commission in collaboration with the Makueni County Public Service Board, to offer services at Level 2 and 3 facilities.