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, […]
Listen “How do we ensure that Universal Health Coverage is possible in Kenya by 2022? The answer is simple,” so wrote Dr Werner Schultink, the Unicef Representative to Kenya, Dr Rudi Eggers, WHO Representative to Kenya, and Mr Siddharth Chatterjee, the UN Resident Coordinator to Kenya. “The focus has to be on preventable and primary healthcare […]
Listen As already seen, Kenya is a signatory to the Alma-Ata Declaration of 1978 and several others, including the Bamako Initiative of 1988, and the Millennium Development Goals of 2000, and now the SDGs and the Astana Declaration. It is in 2005 that Kenya moved from a concentration on the disease burden to the promotion […]
Listen The Kenya Medical Supplies Authority went through tough times between 2000 through to 2008. The Kenya Medical Supplies Agency was established through Legal Notice No. 20 of 2000 with the hope of curing the challenges that its predecessor, the Medical Supplies Coordination Unit (MSCU), faced. However, the Agency was unable to fully deliver on […]
Listen The Kenya Medical Supplies Authority (KEMSA) is a State corporation established through the Kenya Medical Supplies Authority Act No. 20 of 2013, leading to a change of name from an Agency to an Authority. The Authority’s functions, as outlined in the KEMSA Act that established it, are as follows: Procure, warehouse and distribute drugs […]
Listen Known for being the fearless powerhouse behind the iconic “Hands off our Elephants!” campaign that builds awareness among local leaders and citizens to join hands in the fight against poaching, Paula Kahumbu is one of Kenya’s most influential conservationists. When President Daniel arap Moi set a 12-tonne pile of ivory on fire on Tuesday, […]
Listen In a quest to liberate as many women as possible from the gruelling task of trekking long distances to fetch water, Margaret Mwangola co-founded the Kenya Water for Health Organisation (KWAHO), bringing clean drinking water closer to homes. She knew that providing clean water would reduce waterborne diseases, and give women more time to […]