Wednesday, September 19, 2012
By Kepher Otieno
Health experts from Somalia, Somaliland, and Puntland are in Kenya for training on strengthening health care programmes.
The health workers will undergo a four-day intensive training by experts from Medical and Public Health ministries and the Japan International Co-operation Agency (Jica) in Kisumu.
The countries have entered into an agreement with Kenya to help train their health workers.
O Wednesday, delegations of 21 health officials from each country arrived in Kisumu. Nyanza Provincial Public Health Director Jackson Kioko, said the countries health systems were fragmented because of political instability.
He said health officials were referred to Nyanza where in the last five years, joints health interventions by Jica and Kenya helped reduce disease burden. “We have been able through consistent efforts to reduce the burden of diseases in Nyanza. This is the good example that our friends will learn,” said Dr Kioko.
Civil war disrupted the healthcare system in Somalia. Majority of children in Puntland do not have access to basic health care services in a country faced by perennial drought, severe flooding especially in Juba and Shebelle river basins.
Kioko said Nyanza had witnessed reduced infant mortality rates by nearly 50 per cent since 2009. Again, under five mortality rate had reduced by about 40 per cent.
Director of Medical Services Yusuf Ahmed and his Public Health counterparts Mohammed Abdulle and Basher Osble led the delegations from Mogadishu.