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Recognizing the difficulties experienced by visually impaired individuals in accessing healthcare, HealthX Africa in collaboration with accelerateUHC and the Kenya Union of the Blind are actively stepping in to onboard and provide comprehensive healthcare support to members of the
Kirinyaga Branch using HealthX Africa’s telehealth services.

People living with disabilities in Kenya confront significant challenges in accessing healthcare. The 2019 census reveals that 2.2% of Kenyans live with disabilities, with mobility disabilities comprising 28.6% of this group. Visual, hearing, and communication-related impairments disproportionately affect women (57.5%) and those in rural areas (80%). While Kenya has established robust policy frameworks to address health equity disparities, translating these policies into tangible solutions remains challenging.

Shockingly, one in two people with disabilities cannot access healthcare, leading to a disease burden nearly 10% higher than the general population.

These statistics were recently brought to life during a needs assessment done by the Kenya Union for the Blind. It was discovered that members of the Kirinyaga Branch encounter obstacles in movement, leading to higher logistics costs and delays in seeking healthcare. Many members require guides to attend hospitals, and when guides are unavailable, some choose to postpone healthcare visits.

“For Kenya to achieve universal health coverage we must cater to individuals that have traditionally been excluded from the healthcare landscape,” HealthX Africa’s CEO, Roy Bore said, “Using digital innovations like telehealth will allow us to be a step closer in making inclusive healthcare a reality.”

Recognizing the transformative potential of telehealth in achieving universal health coverage, HealthX with accelerateUHC, a project of RaHa Solutions, Kenya Medical Research Institute (KEMRI), and the Adventist Development & Relief Agency (ADRA), has committed to providing telehealth services to this community. HealthX Africa emphasizes the importance of leveraging technology to create an inclusive and equitable healthcare system. Telemedicine has proven globally to reduce costs, enhance access to providers, and mitigate barriers such as transportation expenses, especially crucial during pandemics.

With this premise, the Kenya Union of the Blind, Kirinyaga Branch members, will have access to comprehensive telehealth services that will encompass unlimited virtual doctor consultations, nutrition counseling, and counseling psychology through the toll-free number. Furthermore, the County government of Kirinyaga has pledged to assist the people with disability with the Governor H.E Anne Waiguru declaring her commitment to promoting diversity, equity, and inclusivity to ensure no part of the society is left behind.

“It is our priority to ensure that Universal health coverage is a reality for all Kenyans, and this project is the first step in creating an inclusive healthcare system,” said accelerateUHC’s Liason person, Kadu Titi.

HealthX Africa is intentional in working with and learning from organizations representing and advocating for the health and rights of people with disabilities and adapting and improving HealthX telemedicine systems and services to meet the needs and preferences of Kenyans living with different disabilities.

John Muriuki, the Chairperson of the Kenya Union of the Blind, appreciated the medical support, saying this is an opportunity given to them to be able to access primary healthcare, especially through their phone. He said: “As a community, we face many challenges. When visiting the hospital, someone has to take you, thus making it difficult for your privacy and mental wellness, with a guide who is probably your relative sitting next to you in some instances. If the guide is not available, we do not go to the hospital. The possibility of accessing a doctor through our own phones without having to buy airtime is the surest way of ensuring universal access to health support. I request accelerateUHC to extend support to all the members of the Kirinyaga Branch, who are 327 members with visual impairments. We appreciate the support of 50 members, but I am appealing for your support to cover all the members. We also request your support for medicine, which will go a long way in ensuring easy and equal access to health”.

“HealthX has given people a medical access card with security features that will be used by people with visual challenges,” Muriuki added.

A good community health worker / volunteer, Jane Njambi Mbare, nominates Michael Wanyoro Wanjohi (in photo) for free medical services. Michael is in Muiringo village, nearest to Muiri Shopping Center, Gatukuyu town, Gatundu North sub-county, Kiambu County.

Sr. Refnata Alfred is proposed to be the closest nurse who can be paid to visit and serve Michael on demand.

Michael was physically stable until 2020 when he became unable to provide for his family. The wife was psychologically affected and later died. Michael was left alone lacking basic needs and in year 2021 was affected with jiggers which has led to his health deterioration.

He has bowel incontinence after unknown villagers sodomised him.

He has no livelihood leading to malnourishment. He relies on good Samaritans for basics for survival.

This form is now on social media, where you may answer the questions by Posts, Replies, Comments, Messages, Inbox etc.

Click on image to see how Medical Service is both free and proactive.

Universal Health Care or UHC, which Kenya as a nation is envisioning, is not just about health care financing and access to health facilities. It encompasses many other components, including human resource, communication networks, technologies, information systems, quality assurance mechanisms, governance and legislation. It also includes the less thought-about activities such as rainwater harvesting, use of toilets, sanitary towels, and so on.

As often said, and as evident in these times of the corona virus pandemic, water and sanitation are critical for preventive health care, which is an important aspect of UHC. Therefore, to accelerateUHC in Kavililo Village, Kitui County, Ms Grace Mueni Nyaa had to start by nominating the village for water borehole drilling and water pump installation.

In return, Kavililo got a water borehole and a water pump.

Before then, water was so scarce in the village that Grace herself would load her car with jerrycans of water whenever she drove to the village. Some members of the community had to walk 12 hours for a single round trip to collect water. 

To accelerateUHC in a village you care about, you would start differently. Mr. Peter Mutua, a good gardener in Nairobi, started by self-nominating for toilet and his family got a toilet (in photo).

Before getting the toilet, Peter didn’t know whether to pay school fees for his children or to have his family members continue begging to use neighbours’ toilets.

Villages without toilets also get toilets, which are built in schools and on sides of busy roads within the villages. Toilets on roads sides also serve travellers that use the roads.

You could start to accelerateUHC with medical cover. Beneficiaries of medical covers do not have to travel to hospitals and pharmacies. Community Healthworkers (CHWs) are paid whenever they work virtually with selected doctors and hospitals to serve beneficiaries in rural areas. where hospitals and clinics are scarce.

Medical Cover beneficiaries get the usual in-patient and out-patient benefits. They also get services related to dental and optical care and maternity. Outpatient services start instantly, no waiting period. And villagers do not co-pay for in-patient and out-patient services.

You could start to accelerateUHC with rainwater harvesting systems. The systems have water cleaning components and are fitted on large roofs like those in schools and churches. Where roofs are not suitable for the harvesting, start by cleaning rain water collected in earth dams and from roads.

You could also start with reusable sanitary towels, which help girls to finish schooling. The non-harmful chemicals used to make the towels antimicrobial do not leak out of the fabric during use/wash as the treatment is permanently bonded to the fabric. Since the towel kills germs, it is suitable for use in places where access to clean water is limited.

How to accelerateUHC

Currently, up to 11 people are selected weekly for medical cover. Additionally, one village or school is selected for rainwater harvesting systems, toilets or reusable sanitary towels.

Go to ADRA Kenya website and ‘Get Involved’, accelerateUHC by nominating the households and villages or schools that you care about for medical cover, towels, rainwater harvesting systems or reusable sanitary towels. You can nominate from anywhere in the world. While nominating, you share a photo representing your nominee.

After nominating, you invite your friends and relatives to go to the same website and ‘Get Involved” by voting for your nominee. They can vote from anywhere in the world. Voting is done by pointing with phone cameras at the photo representing the nominee — in other words, you and your friends and relatives crowd point at the photo in favour of your nominee.

Your nominee gets what you nominate them for on the calendar week when crowd pointing in their favour is higher than crowd pointing in favour of any other nominees. 

The crowd pointing determines when, not if, your nominee gets what you nominate them for. The crowd pointing makes the weekly selection fair. For beneficiaries of medical cover, the pointing also ensures regular renewal of medical coverage.

You can also point at advert(s) in page 2 of this infomercial, related organisations accelerateUHC with their print adverts. Organisations accelerateUHC by having their adverts made point-able so that you may have a lot more than photos to point at. You could also point at logos that you see frequently, on products you purchase, on receipts you get during purchasing, on the packaging you dispose of, on phone screens, on notepads, business cards, stickers, vouchers, and so on. 

“…[W]e enable those who join us to bring their ideas and creativity to work every day ––
come join us! if you have a sense of humour and you want to: work in a dynamic collaborative
culture; set high standards; and, meet challenges with determination…”

Please apply HERE by 16th Oct 2022

Yesterday, Kenya’s Independent Electoral & Boundaries Commission (IEBC) and its chair, Mr. Wafula Chebukati, presented three (3) fresh ‘voter turnouts’, see rows 1, 2 & 4 in image above — focus on column titled “Voters Identified from KIEMS”.  Turnout in raw 3 is not new, there are earlier reports about it.

In addition to the above voter turnouts, there are two more: 1) At 2.56PM of Aug 9,2022, IEBC said “As at noon, 6,567,869 Kenyans had turned up to vote. This equates to 30.65 percent of the 22,120,458 registered voters“; and,  2) at 6.44PM of Aug 9,2022, IEBC said that “At around 4.00pm, 12,065,803 registered voters out of 22,120,458 had cast their vote. This equates to 56.17 percent of voter turn-out excluding voting through the manual register“.

Note the difference in computation of percentage turnout. Before current Presidential Elections proceedings at The Supreme Court of Kenya, IEBC used registered voters (22,120,458) . In the proceedings, IEBC is not using registered voter (instead, IEBC uses figures in column 3 in the image, the column titled “Total Registered Voters in the Reported KIEMS”. Note also that even though ‘All KIEMS returns’ (row 4 in the image above) was noted on 10 August 2022, still, IEBC does not use registered voter (22,120,458) — one would ask, shouldn’t Total Registered Voters in reported KIEMS be 22,120,458 when All KIEMS return.

In the proceedings, IEBC also introduced another important information: that number of voters authenticated by manual register (or complimentary mechanism) is 86,889. They must have intended to say 86,779 because the ‘Voters Indentified from KIEMS’ that they want adopted (14,239,862) plus the 86,889 is not equal to the turnout the chair used in declaring the winner (the declaration turnout is 14,326,641). 14,239,862 plus 86,889 is 14,326,641. This, 14,326,641, is more than the declaration turnout by 110.

Since elections were to have been done on 9th August 2022, turnout derived from row 1 in the image above should be adopted as the legally acceptable turnout i.e, 12,152,692 (12,065,803 plus 86,889)

Turnout derived from rows 2-4 cannot be legally accepted, at what point in time does one say that All KIEMS have reported?

This is the first payment we got this month : “Hello Kadu, …Been in the village to bury my grandma. Then my Aunty also passed away. Still at the village. Burial is on Saturday. Will definitely action on the water tank or borehole. You will never know how handy the well is. Kitui is super dry. God bless you.

We just got paid, we received this: Hallo, I appreciate your help, [I] am being treated well. God bless everyone in your team.??

UHC PADS FOR MWASERE GIRLS’ HIGH SCHOOL

Phoebe supports Mwasere with small part of her time –– by doing this she is donating time equivalent to about $ 1000 plus 5% of $1000 ($ 50). The $ 1000 goes directly to this cause and the $50 goes to World Vision.

See more about this cause.

 


“You decide what’s possible. Where others see a mountain, you see a summit. What they call the daily grind, you call the chance to prove yourself. When they say it can’t be done, you ask when you can start. You are going big and you are not going home. They see a child in poverty. You see dignity, beauty and hope. They say it’s a lost cause. But you can’t hear them over the sound of pushing all your chips in. The thing is, you’re never a world-changer. Until you are.” (Word Vision, Canada)

 

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