US in Sh35bn project to boost Kenya health services
According to Ms Erna Kerst, the USAid-Kenya mission director, each zone will benefit from a programme tailor-made to address its unique challenges. Photo/FILE
The US Government has committed Sh35 billion to a new, five-year programme to improve the delivery of essential health services in the country.
The Aphia (Aids, Population and Health Integrated Assistance)plus programme is aimed at strengthening the country’s ability to improve lives in the areas of HIV, malaria, family planning, reproductive health and tuberculosis.
The programme ends in 2015 and will be funded by USAid directly to implementing partners nationwide. Aphiaplus is a follow-up of the Aphia II programme that ended last year.
But unlike Aphia II that lumped the country’s health needs together, the new programme has divided it into five zones, each aimed at addressing the specific needs of the regions.
“Our research showed that to improve on the success of Aphia II, we needed a more strategic and targeted approach to support Kenya’s health services,” Ms Erna Kerst, the USAid-Kenya mission director said at the programme’s launch on Wednesday.
“This is how we identified the five zones where the Aphiaplus programme will work,” she added.
According to Ms Kerst, each zone will benefit from a programme tailor-made to address its unique challenges.
Zone 1 covers Western and Nyanza provinces, which have high prevalence rates of HIV, malaria and other infectious diseases.
Zone 2 will cover Nairobi and most of the Coast provinces that share health challenges associated with large urban areas while Zone 3 addresses the needs of farm workers in Rift Valley.
Central and southern Eastern provinces fall under Zone 4 as areas making important advances in health services while the expansive northern and arid areas form Zone 5.
Public Health permanent secretary Mark Bor pledged the government’s commitment to support the programme.
