March 26, 2023

Health PS Urges County To Conduct Extensive Screening To Curb Increased TB

Health Standards and Professional Management PS Dr. Josephine Mburu has called on the county administration of Uasin Gishu to conduct mass screening at the community level in order to curb the increasing cases of TB in the county.
Speaking during World TB Day commemorated at Huruma grounds, Eldoret, Dr. Mburu noted that the data collected from screening in the last week revealed that TB transmission was ongoing.
‘When we started screening 132 to 420 households last week, among them we had presumptive of 2430, for those we took X-Ray were 610 among our households, suggestive Xray were 81. Among the 132 we got 112, that tells us within this locality we are not going to stop screening,’ she noted.
‘I am requesting the governor to do it for another 2-3 weeks because it proves that among the screened, we have 5 per cent cases,’ she added.
The PS urged the governor through the CECM for health to mobilize the Community Health Volunteers (CHVs) to go to the community to identify and start contact tracing to help curb the transmission sequence.
Noting that the Kenya Kwanza administration agenda on health is on upscaling preventive and promotive health care at the primary level, Dr. Mburu lauded the county government of Uasin Gishu for the commendable steps it has taken in establishing proper health infrastructure by investing in TB diagnostic equipment.
At the same time, the PS reiterated the need to strengthen surveillance at the point of entry for the Marburg Virus Disease (MVD) that had recently been reported in the neighbouring countries.
‘As a border from this side we are screening at the point of entry from the border and the airport for Marburg fever, this week we have seen reported cases of Marburg fever that had been diagnosed at Equatorial Guinea and Tanzania and each country has reported 7 cases. We are not going to stop surveillance even here in Eldoret, it is a point of entry,’ she said.
‘We need to work together with the national team to strengthen surveillance through primary health care and we will achieve the Universal Health Coverage (UHC),’ added Dr Mburu.
Uasin Gishu Governor Jonathan Chelilim revealed that the county experienced a 30 percent increase rate of TB cases, the highest ever in the county in the last 10 years.
Following the increase in case notification last year which placed the county at position 6 countrywide, Chelilim pointed out that his administration came up with key strategies to combat the disease and moved with speed to purchase TB diagnosis equipment and quickly instituted screening in all public and private facilities and also to increase community awareness.
‘Last year in our county 1910 people were diagnosed with TB which translated to a 30 percent increase rate and the highest in the last 10 years. My administration has moved with speed to improve diagnostic infrastructure through acquisition of 2 naïve bayes classifier machines for turbo sub county and introduction of a sample referral network through the GeneXpert Molecular Diagnostic Testing System in MTRH, Huruma and Moi Barracks hospitals,’ said Chelilim.
He mentioned that TB is a highly infectious and killer global disease that claims approximately 1.5 million lives annually, as he called on every citizen to take preventive measures such as cleanness and focusing more on good ventilation as one way to minimize the transmission sequence.
He noted that TB screening is currently ongoing in all the health facilities in Uasin Gishu as he urged every citizen to pay a visit to the nearest facility for screening when experiencing suspected signs and symptoms of TB.
‘Our current treatment success rate stands at 89.5 percent as we edge closer to the national rate of 90 percent. We are determined to ensure all the informal settlements are captured in the health statistics and also provided with access to health interventions,’ he said.
He urged all the key players to have strong commitment to involve the community through volunteers and public health officers as they are critical in locating the health cases at the grassroots and refer them to the nearest facility.
Chelilim indicated that his administration was working closely with the national government in collaboration with TB partners to support the achievement of the WHO vision to have a world free of TB by the year 2035.

Source: Kenya News Agency

March 26, 2023

Senate To Deepen Collaboration With Independent Offices To Spearhead Devolution

The Senate has embarked on a move to enhance and deepen collaboration with Constitutional Commissions and Independent offices for successful implementation of devolution processes.
The Speaker of the Senate Amason Kingi said the house remains committed to nurturing, promoting and protecting devolution and to work with commissions and independent offices at all times for successful outcomes.
Speaking during a joint retreat for the Senate, Commissions and Independent Offices in Mombasa, Kingi said that the parliament recognizes them as key actors in complementing the Senate’s role in effectively discharging its overall constitutional mandate.
He noted that, in their respective capacity, most of the institutions have a direct role in implementation of devolution processes. They variously influence county budget-making processes by determining parameters for resource allocation, authorize disbursements to counties, oversee prudent use of the allocated resources, entrench good governance, accountability and transparency and enforce observance of the rule of law by county governments.
‘We must appreciate the fact that with time we have seen them seal loopholes routinely exploited to perpetuate corruption in counties, effectively curtailing misuse of public funds. This forum will accord senators the opportunity to engage with the key agencies as they play their role of advancing democratic governance and nationhood,’ said Kingi.
Kingi urged all the players in devolution to work together to achieve their goals towards devolution.
He said there has been ample time to experiment devolution in the last one decade thus stressing on the players to put more effort and do things better.
He said the allocation of funds to counties and the timetable for disbursement has over the years stood out as a sore thumb in the senate’s commitment to ensure counties are adequately facilitated to deliver their mandate thus urging the players to make improvements that will entrench devolved governance further for the benefits of Kenyans.
‘Where necessary we must take steps to strengthen and boost the capacity of all institutions operating in the devolution space, more so the Office of the Auditor-General, the Controller of Budget and the Commission on Revenue Allocation,’ he said.
Kingi said he is confident that the 4th senate will work closely with the relevant offices to ensure audits are undertaken expeditiously and reports submitted promptly for use in formulating budgets and where necessary recalibrate resource allocation mechanism to ensure that counties get adequate funds and in good time.
He further challenged the commissions and independent offices to accord reports and recommendations that periodically emanate from the Senate and Senate committee’s critical consideration and act on them expeditiously.
‘Effective implementation of the reports will not only help us all respond effectively to prevailing bottlenecks but also enhance your assertiveness and efficiency in your respective operational niches,’ added Kingi.
He promised the independent offices and commissions of the senate’s support to enable them discharge their mandate effectively and overcome operational challenges that may be encountered from time to time.

Source: Kenya News Agency

March 26, 2023

High-Level Dialogue on Investment in Electricity, Infrastructure Dev’t in Africa To Be Held in Addis

A High-Level Public-Private Dialogue on private sector investment in electricity and infrastructure development in Africa will take place next week in Addis Ababa.

The high level meeting, organized by the Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) in collaboration with RES4Africa Foundation will be held from 28- 30 March 2023, in Addis Ababa.

The High-Level Public-Private Dialogue will gather private and public stakeholders supporting the development of Africa’s infrastructure and engage in policy dialogue on what is needed to advance Africa’s electricity sector reform agenda and ensure adequate investments flows towards this sector, according to ECA.

The Dialogue will be the opportunity to discuss the main findings from the UNECA and RES4Africa supported national electricity market regulatory reviews.

It is also expected to trigger forward-looking conversation about how policy and regulatory environments can ensure adequate openness, attractiveness and readiness of African electricity markets to crowd-in private investments and deliver on Agenda 2063 and SDG-7 targets.

RES4Africa (Renewable Energy Solutions for Africa) is a Foundation that works in support of Africa’s just energy transition in order to achieve the SDG7, ensuring access to affordable, reliable, sustainable and modern energy for all.

It functions as a bridge between Europe and Africa: gathering a network of members from all over the clean energy sector from both continents and high-level international partnerships.

Source: Ethiopian News Agency