As indicated by many legislative initiatives and changes, Kenya, like many other international economies, adopted and implemented universal health care. A critical evaluation of the different programmes that the government has launched over the years to achieve Universal Health Care and how this has influenced health equity is presented in this chapter. Primary and secondary data were gathered to achieve this. Primary data was collected through in-depth interviews with various stakeholders involved in UHC, including policymakers, implementers, researchers, and health service providers. Secondary data was largely collected through critical review of policy documents and commissioned studies by Ministry of Health and Development partners. Political commitment to UHC; insufficient financial solidarity; dysfunctional health-care management; disruption by COVID 19; absence of continuing medical training; supply-side rigidities that contribute to stock-outs; and decaying health-care infrastructure are among the key findings. Other findings include, among others, NHIF's poor governance combined with insufficient skilled labour, excessive operational costs, low capitation, and investment in non-priority expenditures. Various recommendations are made in place of these, including the promotion of solidarity in health care financing that is reliable and cost-effective to collect; political will to increase commitment to devolution of health care, including involvement of various stakeholders at both the county and national levels; investment in health infrastructure and human resource training; revamping NHIF into a full-fledged social health insurance scheme, and enhancing NHIF capacity.
Author(S) Details
Timothy C. Okech
United States International University Africa, Kenya.
Steve L. Lelegwe
National Assembly, Kenya.
View Book:- https://stm.bookpi.org/ETDHR-V2/article/view/5574
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