Senior County Health Officials participate in a two-day inception and co-creation meeting of a Health Systems Strengthening (HSS) Project by USAID Kenya.

The five-year, USAID Kenya funded, project focuses on strengthening governance and human resources for health structures and efficient health financing models.

Speaking while opening the meeting, County Executive Committee Member (CECM) Dr. Anthony Apalia emphasized the importance of HSS in service delivery and that the county Health Department’s governance structures required capacity building.

“From this co-creation meeting, let’s come up with activities that the county government and partners can collaborate on to realize tangible results,” he said.

CECM pointed out that health is the fourth agenda in the governor’s nine-point agenda as well as strategic partnership.

He further explained that the county boss is keen on strategic partnerships, not only in health but also in all sectors, thus we must be committed to creating a conducive environment for partners to work in.

The County Chief Officer for Preventive and Promotive Health, Peter Lomorukai, requested the participants to identify the key areas for HSS referencing the current Community Health Services Act 2018 and regulations to fully operationalize it.

The USAID Governance and Strategic Partnerships Project Chief of Party, at Amref Health Africa in Kenya, Dr. Chris Barasa, highlighted that after the co-creation, there will be co-implementation and co-evaluation to ensure that the five-year project left a lasting impact.

Other partner representatives included USAID Imarisha Jamii and the Diocese of Lodwar.

Project co-implementation partners Amref in Kenya Africa, Kenyatta University, and Kenya Medical Training College were also present.