Media can help educate Kenyans on hygiene – CS Kagwe

Health Cabinet Secretary Mutahi Kagwe. [Edward Kiplimo, Standard]

Media can help educate the public on the crucial role hygiene plays in keeping diseases at bay, Health Cabinet Secretary Mutahi Kagwe told editors at a workshop.

Mr Kagwe said hospitals have been recording fewer cases of communicable diseases since sanitizing and washing of hands were enforced as part of the Covid-19 containment measures.

“Hygiene is more effective than we would ever have imagined. It is important for journalists to tell these stories. Take counties to task to keep markets clean so that people do not pick infections from a dirty environment.

The CS castigated those who are not conscious of cleanliness. “When travelling on our roads, you are likely to see someone toss wastes out of their car windows. As media, help us call out these people,” he said.

Kagwe was speaking at a workshop organised by the Ministry of Health and the Kenya Editors Guild (KEG) in Malindi.

Earlier, KEG president Churchill Otieno said Kenya’s healthcare system seems to focus on curative care as opposed to preventive care,

Mr Otieno also raised the issue of the high cost of treatment in Kenya. Which has forced families to take their loved ones to India to access cheaper healthcare.

He called for more collaboration between health officials and journalists so that the public can be well versed on crucial issues in the health sector.

Kagwe agreed there was a need for a better relationship between ministry officials and the media.

“Our officials should be made to understand how newsrooms work, who the decision-makers are and what makes a good story.

Also at the meeting were Health CAS Mercy Mwangangi, who spoke on Universal Health Coverage. She said Kenya is taking a pro-poor approach where those who can pay will pay, while the government will pay for people who cannot pay.

She said the ministry would come up with a mechanism to identify the poor who cannot pay.