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Ministry to monitor performance of community health promoters
Principal Secretary for Public Health and Professional Standards Mary Muthoni, speaks during the Health Summit event held at Kenyatta International Conference Centre (KICC) in Nairobi on April 15, 2025.
The Ministry of Health has announced plans to monitor and evaluate the performance of more than 107,800 Community Health Promoters (CHPs) across the country.
The initiative, disclosed by Principal Secretary for Health Mary Muthoni, aims to ensure that the significant investment made in supporting CHPs –through stipends, kits, and digital tools— translates into effective health service delivery at the community level to drive progress towards Universal Health Coverage (UHC).
This announcement comes amid ongoing concerns about the oversight, accountability, and overall effectiveness of the CHP programme, which was officially launched by President William Ruto in September 2023 as a key element of Kenya's UHC agenda.
"At the same time, there is a need to monitor and evaluate the performance of CHPs at the grassroots level as they support the implementation of universal health coverage," said Ms Muthoni.
CHPs serve as the first point of contact for health services in many communities, providing health education, basic first aid, disease prevention and referrals to health facilities.
Each CHP receives a monthly stipend of about Sh5,000, which is co-funded on a 50:50 basis by the national and county governments.
To date, the government has invested Sh3.23 billion in stipends and Sh4.5 billion in essential kits and consumables - including screening tools and digital devices such as smartphones.
However, some CHPs have raised concerns about delayed stipend payments, inadequate working conditions, and a lack of essential resources, all of which threaten to undermine the programme's intended impact.
The ministry's budget for CHPs was cut in the July national budget. It asked for Sh4 billion but only received Sh375 million, leaving a shortfall of Sh3.6 billion.
To address these challenges, the ministry is requesting an additional Sh150 million from the National Treasury to cover the administrative costs associated with the bursary payments and to establish a comprehensive monitoring and evaluation (M&E) framework. This will enable real-time tracking of CHP performance, ensure accountability and guide decision-making to improve service delivery.
"A well-functioning M&E system will help assess service coverage, quality, referral efficiency and community satisfaction, while identifying training needs and supporting supervision efforts," added Ms Muthoni.
