Health Facilities in Kirinyaga County.

Hello there! Welcome to this LabFlow article.

Kirinyaga County is located in the Central region of Kenya. In the 2022-2027 government, George Kariuki is serving as the Health Minister for Kirinyaga county. (This is as of November 2022). In the 2017-2022 government, Gladys Njeri Kimingi held this position. Health Ministers are also known as ‘CEC Member for Health’ or CEC Representative for Health.

CEC stands for County Executive Committee. The committees’ chief executive is the county governor while the deputy chief executive is the deputy county governor. In addition to the health representative, the committee has other representatives (approximately ten in total). They represent other devolved functions listed here. Depending on the county, devolved roles are combined differently.

Kirinyaga County has 4 Sub-Counties:

In summary, Kirinyaga County has 299 health facilities spread across the 4 sub-counties. 8.7% of these are faith-based facilities (26) while 27.1% belong to the ministry of health (81). This leaves 1.7% under NGO’s (5) and 62.5% listed as private facilities (187). Kenya has a total of 14,251 health facilities. Therefore, these figures translate to Kirinyaga County having 2.1% of the country’s Total Facilities.

Let us look at the numbers in each sub-county.

In Kirinyaga Central sub-county, there are 92 health facilities. This makes up 31% of the health facilities in Kirinyaga County and 0.65% of the total number in the country.

Kirinyaga Central houses the following 4 Wards: Mutira, Kanyekini, Kerugoya & Inoi.

In Gichugu (Kirinyaga East) sub-county, there are 62 health facilities. This makes up 21% of the health facilities in Kirinyaga County and 0.44% of the total number in the country.

Gichugu (Kirinyaga East) houses the following 5 Wards: Kabare, Baragwi, Njukiini, Ngariama & Karumandi.

In Mwea (Mwea West / Kirinyaga North / Mwea East / Kirinyaga South) sub-county, there are 111 health facilities. This makes up 37% of the health facilities in Kirinyaga County and 0.78% of the total number in the country.

Mwea houses the following 8 Wards: Mutithi, Kangai, Wamumu, Nyangati, Murinduko, Gathigiriri, Thiba & Tebere.

In Ndia (Kirinyaga West) sub-county, there are 34 health facilities. This makes up 11% of the health facilities in Kirinyaga County and 0.24% of the total number in the country.

Ndia (Kirinyaga West) houses the following 3 Wards: Kariti, Mukure & Kiine.

In conclusion,

• There are a total of 20 wards in the 4 sub-counties of Kirinyaga County. Mwea has the highest (8) number of wards while Ndia (Kirinyaga West) have the lowest (3).
• Mwea has the highest number (111) of health facilities (37% of Kirinyaga County & 0.78% of Kenya).
• Kirinyaga Central has the highest number with Faith-Based Health Facilities. (Total of 9 out of 26)
• Mwea has the highest number of:
  • Ministry of Health Facilities (Public). (Total of 30 out of 81)
  • Private Health Facilities. (Total of 70 out of 187)
  • NGO Health Facilities. (Total of 4 out of 5)

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All images in this article are courtesy of the rightful owners through Google Images.