According to budget proposals currently being discussed in parliament, Shs3billion has been set aside towards the training of Community Health Extension Workers (CHEWs). The CHEWs are being flaunted as one of the strategies to help the country achieve her goal of universal health coverage. Health Minister Jane Ruth Aceng last year mentioned that the government […]
According to budget proposals currently being discussed in parliament, Shs3billion has been set aside towards the training of Community Health Extension Workers (CHEWs).
The CHEWs are being flaunted as one of the strategies to help the country achieve her goal of universal health coverage.
Health Minister Jane Ruth Aceng last year mentioned that the government was finalizing training for the first batch of( CHEWs )and that they will be deployed in the new financial year.
The government had initially planned to recruit 1500 CHEWs deploying two per parish in high disease burden areas of Northern and Eastern Uganda.
However, the health committee of parliament wants the government to retain Village Health Teams (VHTs) instead of recruiting Community Health Extension Workers (CHEWs).
Dr. Micheal Bukenya who chairs the committee says they are proposing that they come with a small fee to facilitate the already existing personnel other than embarking on training senior six leavers who leave no mechanism of replacing them in case they decide to quit.
Bukenya says they prefer that the government retains VHTs but pay them copying from the Rwanda model where the money is collected through a SACCO he says in that process a VHT will be expected to earn about Shs150,000 which will not overstretch the government.
However, during a conference, Aceng said the government was revisiting the process of coming up with new strategies on how to effectively have this cadre of health workers in place without having to rely on donors for their facilitation or stretching the wage bill.
