UHC, a bold step in the right direction
By Editorial.Team, October 19, 2023Launch of Universal Health Coverage tomorrow during Mashujaa Day celebrations is a step in the right direction, a move, if effectively implemented, will widen access to health care services to many disenfranchised poor Kenyans.
Lack of access to health care has changed the fortunes of many families. When diseases strike, families that worked so hard for decades to escape poverty are thrown back into it again. This is especially the case if it is a terminal illness such as cancer that requires expensive high tech treatment regimen, often not available in Kenya.
The genesis of UHC is global in nature, as spelled out in Sustainable Development Goal 3.8, which aims to “achieve universal health coverage, inducing financial risk protection, access to quality essential health care services and access to safe, effective, quality and affordable essential medicines and vaccines for all.
Tracing back the journey of availing health care services for all takes us back to 2004 during the late President Mwai Kibaki first regime. The government introduced the 2004 Bill on National Social Health Insurance, which formed part of healthcare reforms.
However, the process faced a lot of opposition with private health management organisations fighting tooth and nail to defeat its enforcement into law.
Eventually, Kibaki declined to accent it into law, pushing policy makers into studying and understanding the many aspects that inform an effective policy formulation of such magnitude.
This was a huge loss for Kenyans and it has taken close to two decades to get us to where we are now. Even so, UHC is anchored on countries making the most of their strongest asset, which is human capital.
Supporting health represents a foundational investment in human capital and in economic growth—without good health, children are unable to go to school and adults are unable to go to work.
Another plus that comes with this launch is the electronic Community Health Information Systems (eCHIS), a mobile app-based system which, will go miles to improve quality of care provided by the 10,000 commissioned Community Health Workers.
This is a plus as it will aid with data collection, and most importantly makes a huge shift in health care provisions, which is usually from a reactive approach to enhancing the preventive approach.