Listen Human milk bank Every second around the world, a baby dies. In a year, about one million babies out of 15 million born prematurely, die. In Kenya, according to WHO, an estimated 196,000 babies are born prematurely, while eight percent are of low weight – less than 2.5 kilogrammes. This is according to the […]
Listen Laikipia Health is the largest devolved sector in Kenya, following the promulgation of the 2010 Constitution. In a study titled Challenges of the Devolved Health Sector in Kenya: Teething Problems or Systemic Contradictions?, Leah Kimathi of Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology observed that the rationale for devolving the sector was to allow […]
Listen “Indeed, connectivity, in one form or another, has been a necessary component of medical care delivery throughout history. Telemedicine provided the tools for connectivity when providers and recipients of care could not be in the same place and time.” – Bashshur and Shannon, ‘History of Telemedicine.’ Telemedicine is the remote use of telecommunications technology […]
Listen In early 2015, billionaire philanthropist and Microsoft founder Bill Gates aroused the global media’s curiosity when he coolly sipped water made from human faeces. He said tests were ongoing to begin poop processing plants around the world. Three years later, on November 2018, Mr Gates hit the stage at the Shanghai Reinvented Toilet […]
Listen “My Government is geared towards basic primary healthcare services and finding ways of integrating cost-effective technological advances in providing care, even at the lowest level possible.”- President Uhuru Kenyatta at the 74th United Nations General Assembly, New York, on September 24, 2019. In the forward to the Kenya National eHealth Policy 2016-2030, then Cabinet […]
Listen Linda Mama Following a Government directive in June 2013, maternal health services would be free in all public health facilities. Provision of high quality maternal delivery services in public health facilities has been a key focus of UHC under the Big Four Agenda, alongside the Managed Equipment Scheme (MES), to lower maternal, infant and […]
Listen The success of Universal Health Coverage (UHC) is dependent on PPPs. Such partnerships are only possible where they are backed by laws that protect the interests of the public. The Health Act 2017 is one such law. Part XIII of the Health Act details how the Government will engage private players in the health […]
Listen Social health insurance is a key pillar for achieving UHC in Kenya. Ongoing reforms at NHIF are designed to make it more effective and responsive. These include restructuring the management structure, constantly reviewing member contributions, extending the benefit package to outpatients, and adopting new strategies to increase membership. But NHIF cannot do it alone. […]
Listen Makueni is a mainly rural county in southeast Kenya, with a population of approximately a million people. It borders Kajiado, Machakos, Kitui and Taita-Taveta counties. From May to September 2016, the county initiated a pilot programme titled MakueniCare. The focus of MakueniCare was senior citizens over 65 years of age for whom it reimbursed […]
Listen President Uhuru Kenyatta has made achieving Universal Health Coverage by 2022 a major part of his second term agenda. He indicated in his inauguration speech that this would be achieved by expanding coverage under NHIF. The World Bank estimates that only a fifth of Kenyans have any sort of medical cover, which means that […]