According to the Health Sector Working Group report 2020/2021 to 2022/2023, Kenya’s major goal is to attain the highest standard of health care for all. This goal is enshrined in Article 43 of the Constitution of Kenya 2010.
Universal Healthcare coverage (UHC)
Kenya is in the process of implementing the Universal Healthcare Coverage (UHC) which she hopes to achieve by the year 2022. This is highlighted in Jubilee’s Big Four Agenda.
The Ministry of Health in Kenya has a mandate of formulating health policy as highlighted in the 4th Schedule of the Constitution of Kenya. The national government is also in charge of all the national referral health facilities such as Kenyatta National Hospital (KNH), Mathari Mental Referral Hospital and Moi Referral Hospital in Eldoret.
Low absorption of resources allocated towards health has been a worrying trend in Kenya. For instance, out of a budget of Ksh. 85 billion for FY 2018/2019, only Ksh. 74.5 billion was absorbed!
The UHC pilot was started in Dec 2018 in four counties of Kisumu, Isiolo, Machakos and Nyeri. The national government is expected to scale out the UHC to the rest of Kenya starting from January 2020.
HIV/AIDs
Kenya national government has reported that 1.1 million Kenyans have been receiving ARVs to save their lives. The HIV prevalence in Kenya remains at 4.9 percent.
Non Communicable Diseases (NCDs)
Kenya is struggle from the negative impact of Non Communicable diseases such as Cancer, obesity, hypertension and diabetes. It is worrying when you note that 27% of the Kenyans are obese or overweight. In activity is of the leading causes of obesity in Kenya.
Reproductive Health
The % of skilled deliveries in Kenya is reported to have increased from 62% in 2017/2018 to 65% in 2018/2019. The percentage of pregnant mothers visiting antenatal clinic (ANC) is reported to have increased from 48% to 50% during the years under review.
Donor funding of health in Kenya
Many interventions in health in Kenya has largely depended on grants from multilateral and bilateral partners. However, in recent years we have seen a decline in the amount of grants received from development partners. This is a worrying trend which calls for domestic solutions.
Plans for the medium term
During the period 2020/2021 to 2022/2023 which is referred as the ‘medium term’ health sector in Kenya is expected to achieve Universal Healthcare Coverage (UHC). All institutions under the health sector will play a role towards achieving UHC.
There are plans to construct and equipped a 4,000 bed- hospital at Moi Teaching and Referral Hospital. Kenya National Medical Training College (KMTC) is expected to play a key role in supplying the Human resources required to achieve UHC.
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