The Ministry of Health (MoH) and Centre for Health Solutions – Kenya (CHS) Annual Stakeholders’ Meeting was held on November 12-13, 2015 at the Maanzoni Lodge, Machakos County. This Annual Meeting, which brings together stakeholders from CHS supported counties in Central Kenya, serves as a forum to disseminate and share best practises in health service delivery. Present at this year’s meeting were representatives from Kiambu, Murang’a, Laikipia, Nyandarua and Nyeri Counties, where CHS is supporting the implementation and expansion of HIV and TB prevention, care and treatment services with support from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Participants included county officials, medical officers, health facility representatives as well as other stakeholders at county level. CDC Activity Manager Dr Benjamin Odongo Elly represented the funding agency at the meeting.
Coming at a time when CHS is marking its five year anniversary, the Annual Stakeholders Meeting was held under the theme: ‘Celebrating Five Years of Excellence in HIV/AIDS and TB service Delivery.’ To set the pace for the two-day event, CHS Director of Programs, Dr Frida Njogu-Ndongwe, highlighted the milestones that CHS has made in the last five years, as it seeks to be the preferred partner for health solutions. She noted that the Tegemeza project has realised great milestones, with almost one million people having been tested for HIV since the beginning of the project, including 146,222 children. Further, 20,982 clients have been enrolled in Anti-retroviral Therapy (ART) programs including 1,669 children. Dr Njogu highlighted the prevention of mother to child transmission (PMTCT) program as being one of the most successful with about 6,000 women and almost 5,000 infants initiated on ART prophylaxis.
CHS Finance and Administration Director, Mr George Odondi gave an overview of CHS support to counties through sub-awards, equipment and infrastructure over the five years.
“To date, Ksh 480 million has been channelled through the Ministry of Health with 80% of the total funding going towards Human Resources for Health and associated costs,” noted Mr Odondi. This is a significant achievement for an organisation whose initial sub-award budget was only Ksh 21 million. A further Ksh 25 million has been spent on health facility equipment and over Ksh 74 million spent on facility repairs. To ensure accountability, CHS undertook the training of accountants on donor requirements, which has greatly contributed to unqualified external audit reports for more than five audits that have been conducted for CHS sub recipients.
CHS Chief Executive Officer, Dr Paul Wekesa shared the meeting objectives, noting that it was an opportunity to share common goals and best practises around the reduction of HIV/AIDS, as well as a forum to celebrate achievements and success stories in health service delivery. “It is time to reflect on what we intended to do, take stock of what we have done, and gauge the difference,” said Dr Wekesa.
National AIDS Control Council (NACC) Director, Dr Nduku Kilonzo, was the Chief Guest at the meeting and called on all stakeholders to make the fight against HIV a personal battle. “We must address the question of HIV because it affects us all … we must make it everyone’s business.
There are approximately 1.6 million people living with HIV/AIDS [in Kenya] and with the cost of antiretroviral therapy per person per year being approximately Ksh 20,000, it is highly expensive for the country,” she said.
Dr Kilonzo further noted that HIV/AIDS is now a main cause of death among young people and the working class, creating a major threat to the economy. A growing trend in infections has also been witnessed among older populations. She noted that stigma remains a cause of concern and stakeholders in the HIV field should seek to reduce stigma by 50 percent in order to effectively manage HIV.
Dr Kilonzo expressed NACC’s willingness to continue providing technical assistance for county and sectoral HIV/AIDS plans, support implementation of the national monitoring and evaluation framework, and mobilise resources for the management of HIV/AIDS.
With the latest data estimates showing about 1.6 million Kenyans living with the disease, HIV/AIDS remains a weighty issue for the country, and this was well demonstrated during the various national, county and facility presentations and discussions during the meeting; emphasising the need for urgent intervention towards testing, care and treatment and psychosocial support.
Best practices in the management of HIV/AIDS and TB were showcased by various CHS-supported health facilities, creating an opportunity for learning and benchmarking. These included interventions to enhance HIV Testing and Counselling (HTC) and promote ART uptake and adherence, TB/HIV service integration, Isoniazid Preventive Therapy (IPT), innovative capacity building, laboratory service improvement, quality pharmacy services, monitoring and evaluation, data utilisation for decision making, and economic empowerment for people living with HIV.
