Listen The National Hospital Insurance Fund (NHIF) is a State corporation whose primary mandate is to secure all Kenyans from financial risk occasioned by the high cost of healthcare services. This makes it a primary enabler of the government’s Universal Health Coverage (UHC) programme. According to its 2018–2022 Strategic Plan, it should do this by […]
Listen To actualise the delivery of affordable healthcare for all through Universal Health Coverage (UHC), legislative reform is vital. The agency leading this key task is the Kenya Law Reform Commission (KLRC). Its work involves reviewing “current legal frameworks and systematic development of legislation through integration, unification of the law, elimination of anomalies, repeal of […]
Listen Lowering the cost of medicines in Kenya has been an uphill task, thus becoming one of the stumbling blocks to achieving UHC. According to WHO, 100 million people across the world fall into poverty because of out-of-pocket payments for medicines and related health services. In May 2019, Kenya’s Cabinet Secretary for Health, cognisant of […]
Listen Between 2000 and 2008, the Kenya Medical Supplies Agency was going through tough times, coupled with challenges such as: inadequate funding from the government; overall lack of confidence in transparency, accountability and performance at KEMSA; lack of timely disbursement of procurement, and operational budgets. These challenges were a great impediment to the Agency’s efforts […]
Listen It is important to note that there is no Free Health Care (FHC) in the universe. If one accesses health services free, someone else somewhere is paying for it, or must pay for it in the future. The government has been providing funding in-kind for free services offered or supplemented through conditional grants, user […]
Listen The Kenya health sector has re-aligned its policies and strategic direction in line with the Constitution of Kenya, 2010. The Constitution guarantees the highest attainable standard of health as a right while devolving governance to ensure improved service delivery, greater accountability, improved citizen participation and equity in the distribution of resources. Additionally, Kenya’s Vision […]
Listen Over 40 years ago in 1978, the world was still as unequal as it is today. There was a huge gap between the haves and the have-nots, and the majority could not access basic services including in health. On September 6-12 of that year, the World Health Organisation and the United Nations Children’s Fund, […]
Listen In the past couple of years, Kenya has seen a U-turn – from people suffering and losing life to communicable diseases to an increase in non-communicable diseases. Dubbed lifestyle diseases and stereotypically seen as ailments of the poor and the old, NCDs include diabetes, cancers, cardiovascular (including heart diseases and stroke) and respiratory infections. […]
Listen In rural areas and informal settlements – mainly slums in cities and towns – people hardly seek health services. There are myriad reasons for this, including long distances to health centres, indifference to health-seeking behaviour and cost factors. But most of these places are served by community members known as Community Health Volunteers (CHVs), […]
Listen Shortly after President Kenyatta announced his Big Four Agenda, with an emphasis on UHC, many people were unsure about it. Some thought UHC meant free medical services regardless of one’s background, status, education or place of residence. Others thought it meant every Kenyan must be insured, while others interpreted UHC to mean well-equipped hospitals, […]