Patients in Homa Bay call for increased funding for non-communicable diseases

 Hypertension patients want the Homa Bay County Government to purchase their medication for public health facilities.

MSF provides hypertension drugs in only two health centres in the county.

Patients with non-communicable diseases in Homa Bay want the county government to create a special budget for purchasing drugs for their conditions in the forthcoming 2025/2026 financial year budget.

The NCDs include hypertension, diabetes, asthma, sickle cell, epilepsy, among others, and are attributed to a significant number of deaths.

However, patients with NCDs in Homa Bay expressed concerns over the unbearable expenses they incur to get medication due to the lack of NCD drugs in health facilities in their villages.

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The patients are forced to rely on drugs issued by the Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF). The MSF provides the drugs free of charge at two health centres in Homa Bay Sub- County, Nyalkinyi and Marindi.

However, the rest of the residents who cannot afford the fare to Nyalkinyi are forced to buy the drugs out of their pockets, which they describe as unbearable expenses.

Salome Akinyi, a hypertension patient and resident of Mbita Sub- County, said she has to spend about Sh1,000 on fare for picking drugs from Marindi. However, if the drugs were available at her nearest health centre or dispensary, she would not be incurring such expenses.

“MSF has helped us because it gives us hypertension drugs free of charge. However, the lack of drugs in our nearest health facilities causes serious financial challenges,” Akinyi said.

Speaking during sensitisation against hypertension in Rodi Kopany Township, the patients urged the county government to factor in the funds for purchasing NCDs drugs in the budget whose preparation is currently underway.

Tom Mboya, a patient, said allocating special funds from the budget will solve the lack of hypertension and other NCDs drugs in local health facilities permanently.

“Let the county government allocate NCD funds in the 2025/2026 financial year budget. This will do away with the perennial lack of those drugs in public health facilities in this country,” said Mboya.

He said the matter should be taken seriously because MSF, which currently provides patients with free drugs in the two health facilities, is there temporarily, and its departure may cause unprecedented deaths in the county.

“MSF is not operating in Homa Bay permanently, meaning it can leave at any time. Let the county government put strategies for supplying NCD drugs in local health facilities to ensure sustainability,” Mboya said.

MSF Project Co-ordinator in Homa Bay County Anne Brukhanoff said there is a need for the county government department of health, the Ministry of Health and all stakeholders to start putting sustainable measures for hypertension medication in public health facilities.

Brukhanoff said they provide the service for training health workers on management of hypertension, medication and sensitisation of patients but their services alone are not enough.

“We offer treatment in only two health facilities in the county, but this is not enough. There is a need for other stakeholders, especially the county department of health, to intervene and ensure stable medication for hypertension,” said Brukhanoff.

The NCDs Co-ordinator in Homa Bay County, Caroline Aloo, and the Co-ordinator of Health Promotion, Kennedy Omollo, urged residents to embrace early screening for hypertension.

“NCDs are silent killers. Let residents screen for these diseases and get advice from medical officers. A person with hypertension can live longer if the condition is managed well,” said Aloo.