The County Government of Bungoma has just released a proposed supplementary Programme Based Budget (PBB), for the current financial year 2022/2023. This supplementary is an update of the budget that is being implemented, for the current financial year. This is a critical policy document which once subjected to public participation, will be presented to the County Assembly for approval in coming months.
The department of health in the county has included a proposal to ensure resources are available for operationalisation of the county referral strategy and ongoing construction of Bungoma blood donor centre. In the past years, Bungoma RMNCAH Network has collaborated with the county department of health and other stakeholders to develop and review the county referral strategy.
A weak referral system has been a key contributor to loss of lives of mothers and babies in Bungoma. In this proposed supplementary budget the county has proposed KES. 1,088,995 for a referral strategy and KES. 11,025,000 to be channelled towards a satellite blood transfusion center. The two projects are the key wins that the RMNCAH Network championed for initiation and have advocated for annual budget allocation in subsequent budgets, till completion.
Advocates from the Network are now engaging the Members of the County Assembly (MCAs) asking them to keep allocating enough resources to the health department. On this released PBB, their plan is to write a memo to the government not just on these two highlighted priorities but other important ones too touching on availability of commodities and strengthening provision of youth friendly services.