KAMPALA – The Government of Uganda through the Ministry of Health has launched the first National Community Health Strategy (NCHS) in a bid to improve access to primary healthcare services through multi-sectoral collaboration.
The strategy underscores the importance of community health on economic growth and development and was developed through wide consultations with stakeholders at national, regional and district levels.
Through this, the ministry intends at increasing access to quality, affordable and equitable health services to all but also to ensure that community health services are affordable, culturally acceptable, scientifically appropriate, and accessible to every household through community participation.
Speaking at the launch at Speke Resort Munyonyo on Thursday, the Minister of Health, Jane Ruth Aceng said that only empowered communities can improve their own health and promote development.
“We’ll look at sustainable financing, having a digitized real-time data collection system but we have to emphasize leadership and governance. Without proper leadership and governance, nothing can work. Without proper coordination, nothing can work. Without accountability, nothing can work, and I emphasize those points because many of the partners in the room here have experience of the power of communities, the power of leadership and accountability in the recently concluded response to Ebola,” she noted.
“Working together is good but working together with transparency and accountability is even more powerful,” she urged.
The minister says Uganda has 10,594 parishes and “if we are to have two community health extension workers in these parishes the numbers would translate to 21,188. If we had to pay a monthly allowance of only 150,000 that would come to 3.2 billion. Is it affordable? Yes.”
According to her, if they are to focus on the parish level, they will leverage the implementation of the parish development model where the strategy is anchored at.
She tasked the Parliament to enable the money flow for the initiative to move properly.
Minister Aceng commended all their partners for being supportive.
Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Director-General, World Health Organisation (WHO) congratulated the Ministry of Health for the development.
He says WHO estimates there are more than 2.4 million community health workers, majority of whom being women in at least 66 countries and most of them lower income.
He called for decent work and fair pay noting that “Community health workers often operate at the margins of health systems without formal employment, or being properly compensated for the crucial roles they play.”
Natalie E. Brown, the US Ambassador to Uganda, noted that this new strategy will help ensure that all stakeholders play their role and work together.
“It offers an opportunity for the Ministry of Health and other social sectors to guide their partners and improve coordination among community health service providers. The new strategy aligns with various US government strategies including USAID its own vision for health system strengthening 2030, which is a global strategy.”
As the largest contributor of health assistance to Uganda by investing around $500 million a year, Natalie pledged a continued support to Uganda.
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