The County Department of Health and Sanitation has commenced training of community health assistants (CHAs) on the e-Community Health Information System (eCHIS) aimed to improve healthcare service delivery starting at the community level.

The two-day training, supported by USAID Nawiri and USAID CHISU Program, targeted 80 CHAs drawn from Turkana Central and Loima.

The CHAs are expected to familiarise themselves with the system loaded on tablets; which will be distributed to the community health promoters (CHPs).

The Director of Public Health, Alfred Emanman, reminded CHAs that the county government was narrowing down on community health services (CHS) to deliver high-quality healthcare services.

“The national government is shifting its focus on preventive and promotive health, which is dependent on CHS, so CHAs must prove that are equal to the task,” he said.

He further added that the national government was hiring 100,000 CHPs thus urging the CHAs to take the training seriously.

County Community Health Services Coordinator, Jonathan Longiti, highlighted the importance of the training to the CHAs as they are supervisors of the CHPs.

“As supervisors, will be giving the CHPs technical support, therefore you should have full knowledge of how they are working,” he said.

He added that the National Government intends to achieve primary healthcare (PHC) service delivery around a network of community and PHC facilities (dispensaries and health centers) modeled as Primary Care Networks (PCNs).

The success of the PCNs, he said, was dependent on CHS which means an expectation from the CHAs and CHPs to work harder.

With the eCHIS training, the CHAs are expected to hold their own knowledge transfer sessions with the CHPs in their community health units.

Similar training sessions will be rolled out in other sub-counties across the county.