Determinants of Attainment of UHC in Kenya

 There is a concerted effort by the Government to propel Kenya towards attaining Universal Health Coverage (UHC). This drive is backed by both legal and institutional fundamentals of Kenya and international Bodies. The Kenyan Constitution, for example, has fully adopted the World Health Organisation definition of UHC and the Government is running with it to ensure that all citizens receive the health services they need (prevention, promotion, treatment, rehabilitation and palliative care) without suffering financial hardship. the journey to achieving healthcare for all started many decades ago. It was in the heart of the government of the first president of Kenya, the late Mzee Jomo Kenyatta to kick disease and illiteracy from the country. He introduced several programmes that were aimed at making this a reality. This trend has continued to the date where healthcare is considered as one of the 4 pillars of the “Big 4 Agenda” of the current government. Between the two governments, policy documents, white papers, researches and pilot projects have been made with sole aim being to get the best way for successfully implementing UHC. In this decade, there is evidence that the journey has started and progress is being made, while gathering lessons learnt and modifying to suit the purpose and salient nature of the Kenya population, noting that though the universal goal is to have all populations attain UHC, each country has its priority intervention area.

An important player in the health sector, Mr. Jayesh Saini could not agree more. He noted that the government has aided greatly in removing barriers to access universal healthcare especially when it comes to working with the private sector healthcare providers. He says that the current synergy between the private sector and the National Health Insurance Fund (NHIF) is a welcome gesture that needs support and clear policies to ensure it is a win-win for all stakeholders including the consumers of the services and products especially in terms of equity and quality. Mr Saini also pointed out that the need for a reliable and well-working healthcare services delivery system with organisations that are optimally working together to ensure success of UHC.

Adopted from the World Health Organisation, some of the most critical pillars that Kenya should prioritise to succeed in this noble exercise include a strong, efficient, well-run health system that meets priority health needs through people-centred integrated care, affordability, availability of essential medicines and technologies to diagnose and treat medical problems a sufficient capacity of well-trained, motivated health workers to provide the services to meet patients’ needs based on the best available evidence and clear actions to address social determinants of health such as education, living conditions and household income which affect people’s health and their access to services. Mr Jayesh observes that these must all run concurrently as they are interdependent for success, noting that the private sector has done well especially in technological advancement while the medical human resource still remains a major challenge for both the private and public sectors. He believes that ensuring sufficient relevant healthcare resource is available should be a priority area if the medical intervention for all people is to be met noting that international travel for medical attention in a UHC system would not be economically viable for the government citing the currently high populations of indigents and their dependants. One of the ways to be self-sufficient in issues Human Resource should be through setting up and enrolling students into institutions for speciality training and providing incentives to ensure the brain drain is curbed unless there is excess that can then be allowed to seek openings in other countries.