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Health Workers Increasing
Care in Kenya’s Neglected
Communities
FrontLines - June 2009
By Michael Gebremedhin
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EHP nurse Leah Achieng’ Chiaji attends to patients at Majengo
Dispensary in Tana River District, Eastern Kenya.
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NAIROBI, Kenya—Kenya lacks
trained health personnel, leaving
many of its citizens with little
access to health care. However,
the government recently hired 870
permanent health care workers to
strengthen health services.
In 2007, the new health workers
were hired, trained, and
deployed to public health facilities
through USAID’s Capacity
Project, a global plan to strengthen
human resources. The project
works in almost 20 countries
throughout Africa, Asia, and Latin
America and helps developing
countries build and sustain their
health workforce so they can
deliver quality health programs.
Kenya—which has faced
staffing shortages, a hiring freeze,
staff attrition, and migration—
really needed the new staff and
decided to appoint these contract
workers to permanent positions
in the public health care system.
This decision ensures that the
increased access to HIV/AIDS
care, family planning, and other
critical services gained through
the emergency plan will continue.
The initial group of workers
hired through the plan—whose
three-year contracts were set to
expire—will not miss a paycheck.
“The health facility would have
closed down if we weren’t hired
by the EHP [Emergency Hiring
Plan],” says Leah Achieng’ Chiaji,
a community health nurse in Tana
River District, an arid, sparsely
populated area in the eastern part
of Kenya. “That would have been
a big loss to the community.”
Chiaji, who has worked with
EHP for 18 months, and her
fellow EHP staff currently reach
more than 200 health facilities.
Their work is considered
invaluable in communities traditionally
underserved by Kenya’s
health system. “All of the EHP
staff plays a major role in every
district we work,” Chiaji said.
“We bring services closer to
communities in marginalized
areas of our country.”
The Capacity Project and government
officials collaborated to
create a transparent and fair hiring
system. The government initially
received more than 6,500
applications from health workers,
and winnowed that list to 4,500.
The final 870 candidates were
screened, interviewed, and
deployed three-and-a-half months
after the positions were first
advertised. The process normally
takes a year or longer.
“In addition to its direct impact
on health service delivery to
underserved populations, the EHP
program has changed the way of
doing business in Kenya,” said
Melahi Pons, health sector and
systems strengthening team leader
at USAID’s office in Kenya.
“EHP is helping the government
make its hiring systems transparent,
efficient, and rigorous.
“These changes will not only
strengthen the health system, but
improve the quality of health
care that Kenyans will receive.
This is an important and clear
signal of the government’s firm
commitment to public health,
especially when one takes into
consideration the challenges
brought by the current global
financial climate.”
★
FrontLines is published
by the Bureau for Legislative and Public Affairs
U.S. Agency for International Development
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Material should be submitted
by mail to Editor, FrontLines, USAID,
RRB, Suite 6.10, Washington, DC 20523-6100;
by FAX to 202-216-3035; or by e-mail to frontlines@usaid.gov
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