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By David Ogot

The Director of Medical Services, Prof J.S Oliech, has called on the private sector, self-help groups and Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs) to increase their contribution in the promotion of "Health for All" programme.

Prof. Oliech was speaking yesterday at the Kenya Institute of Mass Communications while opening a five-day seminar on effective communication in health promotion. The seminar is the second to be sponsored by the World Health Organisation (WHO).

Prof Oliech said health promotion was commonly regarded as the responsibility of the Ministry of Health, but that the WHO and the Kenya Government advocated an inter-sectoral thrust in health promotion.

Emphasising the need fo special training, he pointed out that one of the major constraints hindering health promotion in Kenya was lack of public information and education systems to gudie people to develop competence in meeting the basic requirements of good health.

he said that although President Moi recently made it possible for more people to own radios, health programmes currently being aired on theradio were less effective.

He said there was a need to reappraise existing programmes and produce others whose message was closely community-oriented.

He said it was necessary to try and understand various cultural beliefs and taboos and exploit those that were considered to be assets in health promotion. "That would mean giving the audience what would be of interest to them and not whatwe think and decide they want," he added.

He said that effective communication was the key to changing peoples' health behaviour and that as an educational media the radio was one of the stretegies the Ministry of health used to reach as many people as possible.

Addressing the gathering the WHO representative to Kenya, Dr. Marcella Davies said her organisation attached great importance to the role of the media in the promotion of health. She reminded them of the "Declaration of Health for All by the year 2000," adopted inb 1978 at Alma Ata during the international conference organised jointly by UNICEF and WHO.

She said that inorder for individuals to appreciate their basic responsibilities for their own health, they need accurate and appropriate information. The value of health education was such that health service providers had to act in partnership with other sectors and communities in planning and implementation of health programmes, she added.

Dr. Davies said a well structured media could raise the conciousness of the people and help to set norms that had a strong bearing on health.

"I also hope that areas covering the misuse of drugs and raod traffic accidents and other diseases of affluence will be highlighted in your programmes, as they are no longer confined to developed countries," she said.

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