The Government of Kenya will continue prioritizing partnerships with partners such as World Bank (WB) and Global Financing Facility (GFF) to improve Universal Health Coverage (UHC) in line with President William Ruto’s national administration priorities.
This was disclosed by Health Cabinet Secretary Nakhumicha S. Wafula during the WB and GFF for the Health Ministerial Breakfast at the World Health Assembly (WHA) currently underway in Geneva,Switzerland.
She said the two partners have been imperative in ensuring Kenyan citizens are set to benefit from improvements in the quality and utilization of primary healthcare services and stronger institutional capacity to deliver vital health services across the country.
“Kenya’s partnership with WB & GFF has been pivotal in funding health insurance premiums for the poor & vulnerable, covering 1.2 million households.This initiative ensures financial protection and access to essential health services.Their support of health projects has been instrumental in transforming Kenya’s healthcare system. Together, we’ve made progress” she said.
GFF supports the government of Kenya to fastrack reducing gaps in health service coverage for marginalized populations in underserved counties through engagements with ministries of finance and health thus build up mobilization of domestic resources as well as allocative and technical efficiency.
The partnership has been key in strengthening engagement with the private sector to expand quality services to the most vulnerable communities and piloting mobile civil registration units in remote areas to accelerate birth and death registration and ensure all women and children are counted in national systems.
This year,Kenya secured financial support from World Bank to bolster primary healthcare services and enhance institutional capacity that will play a critical role in the progress towards UHC
The capacity of the Kenya Medical Supplies Authority (KEMSA) will be strengthened to ensure timely availability of health products and technologies at the primary health care (PHC) level and enhanced transparency and accountability in fiduciary processes.
The project is expected to address challenges related to geographical inequities in health outcomes, health financing and quality of care reforms, shortages of human resources, parallel health services for refugees with limited county engagement, as well as the suboptimal availability and use of quality data for decision making.
Nakhumicha is in Geneva for a week-long working tour where she joins fellow Ministers of Health, Member State delegations and civil society representatives for robust deliberations in accelerating progress towards UHC, health and well-being; and the priority actions needed to advance social participation implementation, particularly at the country level.
