Turkana: At least 33 sub-county health management team members have been trained on a community health scorecard, a new people-centered assessment tool that seeks to enforce accountability, transparency, and advocacy by assessing critical health gaps across health facilities in the county. Those trained included sub-county medical health officers, community focal persons, health records officers, and information officers.
According to Kenya News Agency, the training targeted sub-county teams with knowledge and understanding on how to implement the tool to monitor services and ensure improved delivery. Some of the monitored indicators include respectful and compassionate care, waiting time for provision of health services, availability of medicine and diagnostic services, responsiveness to community health needs, cleanliness and safety of the facility, and emergency and referral services, among others.
Speaking at the meeting, Director for Community Health Services Dr. Joseph Lolepo termed the scorecard strategy a community advocacy tool that aligns with the Kenya Community Health Strategy 2020-2025, which advocates for institutionalizing social accountability in the quality of primary healthcare. 'Through the community scorecard, the community is empowered to participate in demanding equitable, improved health services and responsiveness of health-care facilities to the needs of the people,' he said.
Senior Program Officer at African Leaders Malaria Alliance (ALMA), Robert Ndieka, said the adoption of a community scorecard allows public participation and enhances community engagement to ensure that health services have reached the people. 'There is a need to develop specific, measurable, achievable, result-oriented, time-bound actions and implement them, as they are vital in addressing health gaps,' he mentioned.
While sensitizing the team, Deputy Director for Health Records and Information Management Officer Ali Hassan encouraged the trainees to track the implementation of action plans and assess the impact of the scorecard on medical services delivery. According to Nancy Eregae, Loima Sub-County Community Health Strategy Focal Person, this intervention will benefit the communities that previously lacked a tool that will hold service providers accountable. 'This will promote health-seeking habits, as community members will be motivated by the quality of health services provided,' she stated.
On the other hand, Mark Esekon, Aroo Sub-County Community Health Strategy Focal Person said the scorecard has been designed to benefit even illiterate communities through color-coded and numbered cards, which are easy to understand. 'By numbering and colouring these cards, the illiteracy issue has been sorted, as any member of the committee can easily understand how to rate each of the services they receive,' he said.
Representatives from the National Ministry of Health, Amref Health Africa, and the Danida Transcend project were also present.