Preparations for the 2021 Beyond Zero summit kick off

Preparations for this year’s Beyond Zero Summit kicked off on Thursday with a pre-summit meeting that drew participants from the country’s 47 counties.

The summit, which will be held in September, provides a platform for participants to reflect on up scaling primary healthcare as a ladder for achieving Universal Health Coverage (UHC).

The climax of the summit will be presentation of awards to outstanding nurses in public health facilities as part of the recognition of the key role they play in promoting primary healthcare especially maternal and child health.

The nurses will be honored in three categories – nurses practitioners awards, nurses leaders awards and nurse-led initiative teams awards.

Achievement of UHC is one of the key pillars of the Government of Kenya’s Big 4 Agenda that First Lady Margaret Kenyatta has been promoting through her Beyond Zero initiative which has so far delivered fully kitted mobile clinics to the 47 counties among other health promotion initiatives.

In her opening remarks at the start of the meeting, Beyond Zero Technical Advisor Ms Jane Kiragu underscored the First Lady’s commitment to preventing maternal and child deaths.

“Her Excellency Margaret Kenyatta, the First Lady of the Republic of Kenya, is committed to doing everything within her powers to avert preventable maternal and child deaths so that, as a country, we can attain zero maternal and child deaths,” Ms Kiragu said.

The first pre-summit meeting, facilitated by the Beyond Zero Secretariat under Coordinator Ms Angella Langat, Office of the First Lady’s Director of Administration Ms Eva Maina and Communication Director Ms Vivianne Ngugi, brainstormed and deliberated on the criteria and processes to be deployed in the selection of the outstanding nurses to be awarded during September summit.

The pre-summit meeting, held both physically and virtually, drew participants from seven clusters who congregated in Kajiado, Nanyuki, Malindi, Isiolo, Nakuru, Kakamega and Kisumu.

The participants were led by National Aids Control Council (NACC) Regional HIV Coordinators, county directorates of health officers and county nursing officers from the 47 counties.

The first cluster comprised participants from Kajiado, Machakos, Makueni, Nairobi, Kiambu and Kitui counties, the second cluster drew participants from Laikipia, Nyeri, Nyandarua, Kirinyaga, Embu, Muranga and Samburu counties while the third cluster brought participants from Kilifi, Kwale, Mombasa, Lamu, Tana River and Taita Taveta counties.

The fourth cluster hosted participants from Isiolo, Wajir, Marsabit, Mandera, Garissa, Meru and Tharaka Nithi counties while the fifth cluster catered for Nakuru, Elgeyo Marakwet, Uasin Gishu, Nandi, Bomet, Narok and Baringo.

The sixth cluster catered for participants from Kakamega, Turkana, Bungoma, Busia, Vihiga, West Pokot and Trans Nzoia counties while the final cluster comprised Kisumu, Siaya, Homa Bay, Migori, Nyamira, Kisii, Kisumu and Kericho counties.

This year’s summit builds on Beyond Zero’s intervention rolled out in 2016 in conjunction with the World Bank, Swiss Pharmaceutical giant Roche and the Kenya Medical Training College to scale up primary healthcare advocacy support through offering scholarships to enrolled community health nurses in arid and semi-arid areas.