Listen Universal Health Coverage (UHC) has gained traction globally, regionally and nationally in line with United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) number 3, which aims to ensure ‘everyone has health coverage and access to safe and effective medicines and vaccines’ by 2030 (UNDP, 2015). The World Health Organisation (WHO) defines UHC as a health system […]
Listen 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 […]
Listen As then Health Cabinet Secretary Sicily Kariuki noted at the 6th Diaspora Homecoming Convention, 2019, one of the lessons the ministry has learned from the UHC pilot programme is that to succeed, there must be adoption of technology, specifically mobile technology. But the technology or innovation does not have to be grand. Here is […]
Listen Kenyans are becoming increasingly conscious of their health. Not long ago, gyms seemed to be a preserve of the privileged, who after bingeing on unhealthy food or junk, as it is commonly known, would be urged by their doctors to lose weight. Then, gyms were mostly available in towns and cities, where people would […]
Listen Traditionally thought and seen as a lifestyle disease for the well-to-do and the aged, the increasing cases of children with cancer today baffles many people. At the Kenyatta National Hospital Children Oncology Ward, you will find angelic, innocent, and beautiful children battling cancer. Some of them have been in the ward for months. Others […]
Listen The year 2013 offered what can only be described as a new dispensation in Kenya. For the first time since independence, the country got semi-autonomous governments, 47 in all, known as counties, and run by elected governors. Health was devolved and transferred to the counties from the National Government. By 2014, it seemed like […]
Listen The Health Informatics Governance and Data Analytics (HIGDA) is a five-year project funded by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and mandated to support the Kenyan Government’s health sector, as well as strengthen national and county organisational and management capacity in governance, health informatics, data analytics, monitoring, evaluation, learning and accountability. Through […]
Listen Kenya is known for its long queues. There is a common joke that in Kenya, you work hard for your money then have to queue even harder to access it at your local bank branch. People even have to queue at ATMs, which were designed to solve the queueing problem in bank halls in […]
Listen In a public-private partnership with mHealth Kenya, the government’s medical supplies agency, the Kenya Medical Supplies Authority (KEMSA) digitised its logistics services. mHealth, a software development enterprise for service delivery companies, developed a mobile and web-based system that is integrated to the Logistics Management Information System (LMIS). The KEMSA eMobile/LMIS system is a commodity […]
Listen The Ministry of Health has an online application that lists all health facilities in geo-coded locations, namely the Kenya Master Health Facility List (KMHFL). According to WHO, a master facility list (MFL) is a single, centrally maintained database of health facilities with a unique code for each facility and includes information on hours of […]