This archive report was first published on 11 May 2021.
As the world grapples with the aftermath of the Covid-19 pandemic, Kenya's government has been urged to engage the private sector more in funding universal healthcare. According to General Manager of General Electric (GE) Health for sub-Saharan Africa, Eyong Ebai, the pandemic has demonstrated that governments alone cannot fund public health systems.
Speaking in a recent interview, Mr. Ebai emphasized the need for governments to create demand-side activity to support the supply side in providing healthcare services to the general public. He suggested that health insurance programs, such as national health insurance schemes like those in Ghana, Nigeria, and South Africa, can help share risk and provide coverage for individuals.
Notably, the National Treasury has allocated Sh121 billion to the Health Ministry in the upcoming 2021/2022 budget, representing an increase of Sh3 billion from the current financial year. However, this allocation still falls short of the international average spending for low-income countries, which stood at 6.3 per cent as of 2019.
Mr. Ebai also proposed that governments can tap into regional authorities through developing state or provincial-wide health insurance schemes that will directly benefit local communities. He emphasized the importance of tapping into the informal sector as well as the formal sector to provide coverage for individuals.
With more than 80 per cent of patients on the continent still meeting healthcare bills through out-of-pocket payments, this proposal is especially crucial. The National Treasury has allocated another Sh47.7 billion for the universal healthcare plan, bringing the total allocation to the country's health sector at Sh168 billion for the 2021/2022 financial year.
