A year after the launch of the UHC programme in Kenya, then Cabinet Secretary for Health Sicily Kariuki said that 3.2 million people had registered.

Speaking at the 6th Diaspora Homecoming Convention 2019, themed Diaspora and the Big Four Agenda in December, Ms Kariuki said that they had learned key lessons from the pilot project on rolling it out to the rest of the country.

The lessons, the CS disclosed, included key emerging issues, the need to reorient the health system towards a primary health care approach, the need for skilled health workforce and interventions that increase their productivity, and community ownership of the UHC programme to ensure its success.

“The interest by the diaspora to participate in the programme confirms that community participation in health is the cornerstone of ‘leaving no one behind’ philosophy, ” she noted.