DIRECTOR: Ms. L Nambundunga
Private Bag 3003, Opuuo,
Kunene Region
Tel: +264 65-273026
Fax: +264-65 273022
E-mail: mhsskune@mhss.gov.na

About the region:
Kunene Region is situated in the north- western corner of Namibia. The region is bordered to the north by the state of Angola and to the northeast by Omusati, Oshana and Oshikoto regions. In the south of the region there are Erongo and Otjizondjupa regions. The Atlantic Ocean seals the boundaries of Kunene on the western direction. The region is comprised of three administrative health districts: Opuwo, Khorixas and Outjo.

The estimated area coverage of the region is 115293 square kilometers and the population density is 1.6 square kilometers per person (Source: Namibia Population and Housing Census 2000).

The capital of the Kunene is Opuwo, which happens to be one of the fastest growing towns in the region.

The region is dry for most of the year and is characterized by dust storms especially from August to October. Rainfall is scanty and only experienced for two to three months in the year. The terrain is semi-arid and progressively becomes desert land as we approach the skeletal coast.

The first rains, though scanty usually fall in October and November followed by a dry spell in December. The western part of the region, usually receives fewer rains than the eastern parts. Heavy down pours are usually experienced in January to April and varies from 50 mm to 350 mm.

Summer day temperatures are often very hot reaching up to 35 degrees centigrade with minimum temperatures of 14 degrees centigrade. During winter month, the temperatures can range from 5 to 26 degrees centigrade.

The Kunene is the only perennial river in the region, and it is home to the Ruacana and Epupa falls, (the first being an electricity generating point the latter mainly providing tourist attraction).

The majority of the inhabitants of this great region and their livestock depend on this sub-terrain water found in the rivers, fountains and springs that are in abundant supply and boreholes that are sunk by the Department of Rural Water Supply.

The population of Kunene region is projected at 72728 (as at May 2004) using a growth rate is at 1.9% per annum (Source: Namibia Population and Housing census 2001). The majority of the population lives in rural areas.

Break down of important age-groups for MOHSS:

Population of under one year olds 2141
Population of under five year olds 10706
Population of women of childbearing age 17129
Population of the aged (60 years and above) 4925
Population of the disabled 2213

As the region is semi arid and surface water supplies are scarce for most of the year, the most important socio-economic activity is livestock farming. Government, the micro commercial sector and small mining activities provide viable livelihood for the inhabitants through formal employment.

The region boast some of best landmark features such as the Epupa falls (Opuwo), Petrified Forest (Khorixas), the Finger Clip mountains and Etosha National Park (Outjo). These land mark features makes the region stand out as one of most favoured tourist destination in the country bringing a lot of economic activity through tourism.

There are rich deposits of semi precious stones throughout the region hence informal trade in semi precious stones provides a source of livelihood to a substantial part the population.

The region is poised for a big economic boast once access is improved through tarring of major access roads that is currently in progress.

Quick Links on this page: Objectives | Main Output Areas | Structure

OBJECTIVES

The objective of the regional directorate are:

To ensure efficient regional management
To improve quality of health services in all hospitals
To provide quality primary health care service
To improve developmental social welfare services

MAIN OUTPUT AREAS

General and functional management
Resource Programmes and Support Services
Developmental Social Welfare Services
Hospital Services
Public Health Care Services

General Support Services
The Division General Support Services is headed by a Chief Control Officer who in turn reports to the Regional Director. The division has four subdivisions as follows:

Finance and Social Accounts

Human Resource Management
Office and General Services
Logistics and Facility Management

The division is responsible for providing administrative support to the Directorate in terms of finance, transport, personnel management, logistics and supplies.

Public & Environmental Health
The division is headed by a Control Environmental Health Officer. The responsibilities of this division to are to uplift public health standards some of which are in the following area:

Port Health
Sanitation
Vector borne disease control
Public hygiene and Environmental pollution control
Occupational Health and safety
Infectious disease control
Food safety and hygiene

Family Health Services
The division Family Health is headed by a Chief Health Program Administrator. It is responsible for the following functions:

Expanded Program for Immunization (EPI), including National Immunization Days (NIDS).
Integrated Management of Child Illnesses (IMCI)
Cancer Prevention and control of non-communicable diseases
Reproductive Health
Food and Nutrition Programs
Community Based Health Care (CBHC)
Oral Health and Dental services
School Health Services

Rehabilitation & Social Welfare Services
This division is divided into two subdivisions namely Social Welfare that is headed by a Chief Social Worker and Rehabilitation Services headed by a Principal rehabilitation Worker.

District Health and Social Welfare services (Opuwo, Khorixas and Outjo)
Kunene region is comprised of three health districts. The heads of the district health services are Principal Medical Officers. The district health care and social services include the following functions:

Curative services
Primary Health care clinics
Outreach services
Nursing services
Pharmaceutical services
Radiographic services
Eye care unit
Laboratory services
Inpatient and out patient services
Ambulance and emergency services
Mortuary and medical Forensics

Click here to view or download district maps

Curative Services
The division is responsible for the provision of Nursing, pharmaceutical and dental services.

Special Diseases Program
The special disease program deals with the following programs:

HIV/AIDS
Tuberculosis (TB)
Malaria

Management Information System (MIS)
The division is responsible for managing of information for evidence-based planning, monitoring and evaluation. This is done through the development of a sound MIS that provides information on financial, epidemiological, pharmaceutical, capital development and maintenance of facilities, human resource development, research and surveys.

HEALTH AND SOCIAL WELFARE FACILITIES

The greatest challenge of the region is the provision of improved access to health services to its scattered and highly mobile population. The region is served three referral district hospitals. These hospitals are moderately accessible by the rural communities.

The region has twenty clinics and three Health Centers ( click here for further detail on health facility) that serve the rural community. The Government has plans on the drawing board to construct three more clinics during the next two years.

As a stop gap measure (to improve access to health services), the region is running three out-reach programs (i.e. one in each district).

Private Health Care Providers

Contributing to health care provision to the communities of Kunene are private health care providers. I.e. Doctor’s consulting rooms (2) Physiotherapy Practice (1) Pharmacy (1) Laboratory services (2) and Psychotherapeutic center (1).