The Ministry of Health has unveiled a National Community Health Strategy to empower communities to improve their health and promote development.
The strategy aims to motivate community health workers, improve access to primary healthcare, and promote preventive, curative and rehabilitative services. It will be implemented by the village health teams and community health workers.
Brenda Nakanwagi, the Senior Program Officer of Community Health says that the strategy will be incorporated with the Parish Development Model so that the services reach everyone at the grassroots. She added that they want to bring the region to speed in the areas of community health and people’s livelihoods through the provision of basic health services.
According to Nakanwagi, the Ministry of Health is shifting from a curative to a preventive approach by empowering communities to take control of their health. She added that they are working with different leaders to ensure that they help in guiding and analyzing health conditions.
Andrew Mubangizi, the acting Commissioner for Community Health said that the program implementation will start with the Karamoja sub-region before it is rolled out to the entire country. Mubangizi noted that all partners who wish to work for the Ministry of Health shall coordinate with the Moroto Regional Referral Hospital.
Mubangizi is optimistic that the strategy will promote the last mile on community-level health interventions and enhance disease prevention.
Meanwhile, Moroto Regional Referral Hospital Director Dr Stephen Pande explained that they are moving from a situation where health workers wait for patients to fall sick and have now adopted a community health system to engage the communities on how to prevent diseases.
Pande noted the health facilities are overwhelmed by cases of malaria, and brucellosis among others which could have been managed by sensitizing people on how to avoid such diseases.
