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September 6, 2024
Kenya’s decision to provide community health workers (CHWs) with kits, digital tools, and stipends in late 2023 was welcomed by many, including Gabriel Masinde, who serves as the Coordinator for Vihiga County Community Health Services.
In his role, he supervises 146 community health assistants (CHAs) and 1446 CHWs within Vihiga’s five sub-counties. The key aspect of the initiative called Afya Nyumbani was the significant improvement in primary healthcare in Kenya through the distribution of tablets to enable digital reporting of health services by CHWs using the electronic Community Health Information System (eCHIS) app.
Vihiga County, Coordinator, Community Health Services Gabriel Masinde trains Community Health Promoters on use of digital tools in Ebusiratsi Health Centre in Vihiga.
As someone who has been at the forefront of community health services for over a decade, Mr. Masinde was elated at the progress, stating that it “will enhance the quality of services provided and the accuracy of reports collected and submitted by the CHWs.”
Having started as a community health extension officer and worked his way up to the sub-county health focal person, Mr. Masinde now oversees the collection and compilation of vital health data.
Reflecting on the transition from manual to digital systems for the county’s community health services, he emphasized the challenges they faced in the past when using improvised notebooks and forms for data collection. This often led to inadequate data and reports.
He also pointed out that the community health workers were responsible for over 100 households, each with at least five members, requiring extensive paperwork for data entry. The accuracy and timeliness of the data were not guaranteed under the manual system.
Vihiga County, Coordinator, Community Health Services Gabriel Masinde (centre-in blue jacket) poses with Community Health Promoters after a training in use of digital tools in Ebusiratsi Health Centre in Vihiga.
“It is through the records that we learnt about disease outbreaks, immunization defaulters, new deliveries, and mortalities among pregnant women and children under the age of five among other public health concerns. One of our major challenges however was accuracy and timeliness of data,” he recalls.
Mr. Masinde commended Living Goods for initiating the conversation on improving the county’s community health back in 2022 when they signed a Memorandum of Understanding. He expressed optimism about the ongoing partnership with Living Goods in serving the people of Vihiga, stating that it has led to significant improvements in data accuracy and timeliness.
“The transition has been very smooth; our employees have been benefitting from time-to-time mentorships offered by the county in partnership with Living Goods. This has enabled the workers to stay updated and we are already seeing results…Through this, we have been able to increase immunization uptake, and Ante-Natal Care (ANC) clinic attendance while also reducing maternal and under-five mortalities. From where I sit, I am no longer worried about information accuracy, instead, I channel my energy towards various health interventions going by our digital record findings, he concludes.