My motivation to join the public health, health management and policy program

Every ceiling becomes the platform for the next level.

I have worked as a nursing and public health officer in government, non-government and private sector in different capacities. The Public Health- health management and policy program would provide me with a broader platform with which to improve quality of life experienced by the sick. It is my goal to make a significant contribution to the health of citizens through effective management, clinical operations and delivery of health care services. As a nursing officer, I serve as a liaison between policymakers, healthcare practitioners and the public. I advocate for young people to access reproductive health care, delaying child marriage and childbearing to allow girls finish school, improve child nutrition and overall healthcare of young people by influencing policymakers to invest and engage youth in harnessing economic growth. Helping youth solve their health problems is gratifying. I have engaged policymakers resulting in meaningful youth participation where novel ideas are shaping the development of Kericho county reproductive health policy.

Currently, I run Health Renaissance network; a platform that seeks to improve county health sector and nurture interests of young health professionals as well as sharing experiences, challenges and best practices about health profession. In 2018, I was selected as the first Kericho youth governor to represent a population of over 300, 000 youths. With the advent of devolution and creation of county governments, youth affairs were not prioritized. This role made me advocate and lobby for the marginalized youth to be meaningfully involved in agenda setting, policy formulation, and implementation. I have represented and fostered youth’s interest in entire county leadership team during the development of Kericho County Integrated Development Plan 2018-2022 which saw some of the youth issues factored in the plan, provided oversight and foster implementation of 30 percent procurement law across all departments, planned and hosted youth forums aimed at building their capacity on issues affecting them which built hope, proactiveness and resilience amongst them, enhanced collaborations and partnerships with financial institutions that has strengthened entrepreneurial skills, financial literacy and economic strengthening and developed & offered career counselling and skills development programs across and beyond the county. The burning desire for health equity makes Global Public Health and Policy with the Queen Mary University of London my preferred course. Studying here under Dr. David McCoy who transformed the South African health care system is inspiring. Its exceptional learning facilities, research excellence and innovation track record with Rusell group shall enhance my competencies in focusing interface between politics and policy. This shall empower me to transform the existing system to patient-centric health systems in Kenya necessary for universal health coverage. The conferences, collaborations with other organizations in research, teaching, policy development and community engagement present golden opportunities to gain international experience and expand my networks. I shall be able to analyze principles of health systems and make global linkages to social, political, economic and cultural issues in Kenya thereby enhancing primary care and shifting from secondary care, disease-oriented to strong primary sector offering proactive, whole patient care through patient education, early diagnosis, self-care support, risk factor and chronic disease management and systemic gatekeeping to the secondary healthcare sector.

Owing to the inconsistency and poor understanding of systems and lack of coordination between national and county governments in Kenya attributable to health governance, I intend to contribute to the critical mass of health policy analysts on the ground and undertake public Health policy post-graduation. I will use health systems management, policy and practice competencies acquired from my studies in health systems planning and get involved in performance improvement in maternal and neonatal health starting from Kericho. In mid-term, I hope to assume leadership role as Chief Officer of Health in Kericho county, this is because the health policy process, politics, and power at the Queen Mary University London will furnish me with skills in developing practices and policies informing healthcare systems on controlling spiraling health cost while maintaining high quality and comprehensive health services, determining effective way of organizing and paying for healthcare, addressing health inequalities and measuring & improving performance of healthcare.