KENYA— The Ministry of Health (MOH) Kenya will hold the country’s first National High-Level Health Financing Dialogue to engage partners across the board on resource mobilization towards achieving Universal Health Coverage.
Kenya will become the third country in Africa and the first in East Africa to convene such a dialogue which previously was held in Malawi and Zambia.
The three-day summit aims to align stakeholders toward achieving sustainable and effective financing for healthcare in accordance with national and regional commitments.
The discussion will entail, how different stakeholders can align their priorities to the Government’s priorities in health financing, specifically focusing on the Bottom-Up Economic Transformation Agenda.
During the dialogue, experts will present research findings on Kenya’s health financing system, policymakers will discuss strategies to address challenges, and partners will present how they can support Kenya by improving domestic health financing.
The Ministry of Health notes that the Kenyan government has long recognized the importance of investment in health.
Moreover, this is evidenced by the gradual increase in governments contribution to the financing of healthcare services over the past 10 years from 33% in 2012/13 to 52% in 2018/19.
The three days summit brings together various stakeholders in the health sector including the Ministry of Health, the Council of Governors, representatives from the African Union, EAC ministers, Global Fund, Gates Foundation, USAID, and UNAIDS among others.
The summit aims to align stakeholders toward achieving sustainable and effective financing for healthcare in accordance with national and regional commitments.
As part of the implementation of the Africa leadership meeting the AU has given the mandate to regional economic communities to support member states in holding national health financing dialogues.
The national dialogue, according to the ministry, plays a vital role as an enabler in allowing Kenya to meet her domestic health financing commitments.
According to Health Cabinet Secretary Nakhumicha S. Wafula, such financing dialogues serve as platforms to discuss, build consensus, and identify ways to support domestic health financing priorities by bringing together important national and international stakeholders.
“The government has recognized the importance of investing in health evidenced by the gradual increase in contribution to the financing of healthcare services over the past 10 years,” Wafula said.
“We are not yet there, the Abuja declaration was 15 percent, we are way below that so we must work together to ensure that we get to 15 percent,” she added.
The East African Community is the regional economic community responsible for supporting the government of Kenya in implementing the African leadership meeting agenda including the national health financing dialogues.
The dialogue will be important for Kenya to identify priority areas to improve on how it can achieve targets set within the health financing strategy.
During the dialogue, experts will present research findings on Kenya’s health financing system, and this will help policymakers to discuss the strategies to address the challenges that the country faces.
Africa Leadership Meeting (ALM) Declaration
Kenya’s national high-level health financing dialogue is a follow-up of recommendations of the 32nd AU Summit in 2019.
The meeting saw AU 52 heads of state ratify the – Addis Ababa Commitment toward Shared Responsibility and Global Solidarity for Increased Health Financing Declaration-otherwise known as Africa Leadership Meeting (ALM) Declaration.
The ALM is supported by four health financing pillars which are, ‘more money for health’ that involves increasing domestic resources for health.
Secondly, ‘more health for the money’ where member states are improving how domestic resources for health are invested.
Additionally, ‘health equity’ is where member states improve access to health services and reduce the financial burden of accessing healthcare.
Finally, ‘governance’ necessitates increasing coordination within and between government ministries, the private sector, and partners on domestic health financing.
Achieving UHC targets through Primary healthcare financing
The MOH notes that the commitment of the Government of Kenya to achieving universal health coverage through investment in primary health care will require significant domestic health financing reforms.
The ministry recommends that will see a major paradigm shift from investing in largely curative care to investing in preventive care.
Additionally, this approach is not only cost-effective but ensures that the human capital is constantly operating at optimal capacity.
The country’s health financing roadmap is stipulated in the Kenya Health Financing Strategy 2020-2030.
The roadmap seeks to ensure adequacy, efficiency, and fairness in the financing of health services in a manner that guarantees all Kenyans access to the essential high-quality health services that they require.
Despite political and policy commitments towards the realization of UHC, Kenya’s investments in health remain sub-optimal, far below the Abuja Declaration of 15% of the general budget, and the WHO-recommended 5% of GDP.
Efforts should thus be made to ensure that health remains a priority even as the government addresses the (global) economic downturn, post-pandemic economic recovery, and huge public debt.
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