Health & Science

By Sharon Wanga | Dec. 23, 2024

The Kenya Environmental Health and Public Health Practitioners Union (KEHPHPU) have urged the government to prioritise preventive and curative health care.

In an open letter to the president from the union’s Chief Executive Officer Brown Ashira, they raised several issues that they believe would promote health services in the country.

The union has emphasized that healthcare funding has neglected preventive health services.

“For too long, funding in the Ministry of Health has been skewed towards medical services, leaving preventive health services marginalised. In the last financial year, out of the Sh.140 billion allocated to health at the national level, Sh.116 B went to curative services, and very little was apportioned to prevention services,” said Ashira.

Ashira noted that public health has been largely donor-funded paying less attention to the surge in communicable diseases.  

The union called for more funding; “ The Primary Health Care fund is grossly underfunded with a promise of Sh.50 billion only to get Sh.4 billion. We need to finance health the same way we finance education and national security which gets over Sh.600 billion and Sh. 900 billion respectively in a financial year”.

The union has emphasized the need for greater investment in human resources for health care, highlighting that preventive programs receive minimal attention.

“Despite their importance, public health officers remain overlooked at both national and county levels. Points of Entry (POEs) such as airports, seaports, and border crossings are severely understaffed, leaving the country vulnerable to health threats of international concern,” he noted.

 The union has further urged the government to review the outdated Public Health Officers and Technicians council act by realigning it to the current dispensation and the new constitution.

They suggest that the government should allocate equivalent or greater resources to preventive health as is done for curative services. 

A recommendation by the World Health Organization (WHO) also indicates that countries should allocate at least 1per cent of their Gross Domestic Product (GDP) to Primary Health Care (PHC) as part of their overall health expenditure.

However, the country spends Sh. 550 billion when out-of-pocket is at Sh. 150 billion. 

Similarly, the Lancet Commission on Global Health highlights the substantial economic and societal returns of preventive health interventions.

Ashira noted that good investment in public health will help establish public health laboratories in every county or region for food, water, and soil quality analysis to address aflatoxins, food contamination, and other public health hazards.

The union also recommends that the  Social Health Authority (SHA) board must make regulations that recognizes and allow Community Health Units and Public Health Offices as purchasing entities.

It also calls for the recruitment of human resource personnel especially the public health officers and technicians to address gaps, particularly at Points of Entry, seaports, and border crossings.

“Mr. President Public Health Department is the most understaffed in the entire ministry and county governments. Since the promulgation of the new constitution, we have not heard serious recruitments  and replacements of PHOs who have since exited service despite there budgets being available,” he said.

Furthermore, the union advocates for the hiring of public health officers across various ministries, including education, environment and natural resources, state advisory teams, and parastatals, to lead the implementation of occupational health and safety programs.