1.0) EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
People’s Health Movement organized a community participatory dialogue in partnership with The Global Initiative for Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (GI-ESCR) which had conducted a research on
access to healthcare services in Dandora informal settlements under the community participation program which was to review the report form the study findings The research program was been
implemented December last year and The end report provided insights into changes, with regard to Access to Healthcare , that communities have experienced. Data has been gathered during community
baseline research methodologies, evaluation meetings and community end-line consultations. The community consultations and part of the evaluation meetings have been held with the community
members who were part of the forum, Lessons learned are abstracted, which provide insights for future programming. These insights are valuable when applying similar methodologies to engage community members in understanding Access to Healthcare and influencing actions at the community and health facility level; and therefore improving health status in the informal settlements
2.0) THE DIALOGUE
The main objectives of the dialogue were: –
Understanding and reviewing the current state of Healthcare in Dandora
Unveiling of the GI-ESCR Status of Healthcare Report to the immediate community Reviewing of the GI-ESCR Access to Health Research report
Continued conversation with all the parties involved at grassroots’ levels and the policy makers.
3.0) DESCRIPTION OF ACTIVITY
Attendance
The Dandora Unveiling of the Status of the Healthcare Report community dialogue was attended by approximately 50people from the area.
Moderator
The meeting started at 10.00 AM and the Miss Winnie a community health worker and mobilizer introduced the visitors to the community and started with the introduction part and explained the
purpose of the forum to the participants and guests then everyone introduced themselves by names and association. A word of prayer was shared by one participant and the dialogue kicked off.
4.0) UNVEILING OF THE REPORT &EXPERIENCE SHARING
Miss Ashina from GI-ESCR unveiled the report and took time to go through it with the participants.She engaged the participants in reviewing of health status in the area.
5.0 THE STUDY REVIEW CONCLUSIONS FROM THE AREA
Challenges on affording good healthcare due to the cost of living
CHVs challenges while performing their duties i.e. they can only refer patients to public hospitals yet most of the residents are surrounded by private health facilities, they are not appreciated by the government for the good work they are doing in the community. For example, no remuneration they are considered as health volunteers and not workers.
In Dandora some hospitals can charge the NHIF yet no service has been offered to a patient thus leading to theft and corruption
Poor legislation and regulation of health facilities are determinants of poor access to healthcare in Dandora.
Most residents prefer the cost of NHIF to be reduced due to high low income.
5.0 GI-ESCR REPRESENTATIVE
Madam Rosella De Facco from Italy who is a Right to HealthCare facilitator gave some summary and her observations while working in Africa and in contrast with Italy her parent country.
Madam Rosella urged that they did the same kind of study in Nigeria and the country is more polarized in healthcare than Kenya.
As an organization they also give assistance to private hospitals i.e. in Nigeria
During Covid -19, in Italy public health facilities did well than the private facilities
B) PHM REPRESENTATIVE
Mr. Dan Owalla from PHM urged the community members to know and understand that access to healthcare is vital and also community members should register for NHIF which comes with numerous benefits when it comes to access to affordable healthcare. Mr Owalla took the participants in understanding of Health Act from the constitution for example being familiar with importance rights i.e. Rights to palliative care, right to receive emergency care, right to be treated with or without money, right to confidentiality, right to donate body organs etc.
6.0 EMERGING ISSUES.
Many health facilities in the area use typhoid as a scapegoat not to examine and treat other diseases.
In some health facilities one needs to show the marriage certificate for them to be to have their NHIF cards accepted
Brother Anthony Hospital in Dandora i.e. the one which only accepts NHIF as a private facility.
Faith Based Hospitals are the best in the area compared to other hospitals i.e. Tumaini Hospital
CHALLENGES
Lack of CHV infrastructure and their development
Negligence cases i.e. mostly in mama Lucy hospital
Lack of oversight for health facilities by the government
High cost and complimentary paying of NHIF premiums becoming difficult for most community members
It was discovered that some health facilities don’t cover dental problems
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