Busia County Conducts Harmonized Health Facility Assessment

As the government of Kenya rolls out Primary Care Networks (PCNs) to link and strengthen Primary Health Care services, AMPATH Population Health supported an assessment in Busia County of the availability of health facility services and the capacities of facilities to provide services at required standards of quality.

H.E. Hon. Arthur Odera (County executive committee member in the department of health and sanitation) and AMPATH Population Health-Health Financing team.

The Harmonized Health Facility Assessment (HHFA) provides essential information to the department of health services on the state of health care across the facilities and helps in identifying existing strengths and weaknesses of the sub-county hospitals which are the hubs for delivering primacy care services through the PCNs. The objective of the PCN is to ensure primary health care starts from the communities, dispensaries and health centres, all linking to the hospital to form a network of practice.

This analysis will facilitate decision making on investments needed to deliver the essential health package of services towards the goal of achieving Universal Health Coverage (UHC). It generates the evidence to support Busia County in drawing its UHC roadmap which includes capacity building for healthcare workers, infrastructure improvements and reducing geographic barriers and other barriers to accessing timely health services.

PCN model

Speaking during the official handover of the report, H.E. Honorable Arthur Odera, Deputy Governor and County Executive Committee Member in the department of health and sanitation, lauded the AMPATH partnership and the facility assessment. “This exercise provides a baseline for assessing the existing health infrastructure. This will assist the county in the development of future health infrastructure and creation of master plans shared by entities in the health sector. The goal is to improve access to healthcare and to fill critical data gaps in measuring health service availability and monitoring progress in health system strengthening.”

The facilities assessed were the Busia County Referral Hospital (BCRH), Alupe, Port Victoria, Angurai, Khunyangu, Teso North, Sio Port, Matayos, Nambale and Lupida Sub-county hospitals. The focus of the assessment was service availability, service readiness, management and finance, and quality of care. The assessment team included representation from World Health Organization Harmonized Health Facility Assessment technical office and monitoring and evaluation department of the Ministry of Health.

The information from the assessment will aid the county health department and health facilities leadership to draw and implement a health system recovery plan for the county and make evidence-based decisions for supporting public health facilities.

Additionally, as the national government rolls out PCNs based on a hub and spoke model, these sub-county hospitals will serve as the hub sites supporting satellite health centres and dispensaries for referrals and capacity building. It is therefore crucial to understand the operational status of these facilities for planning and prioritization.