Prevention better than cure in UHC quest

By 2022, the government plans to have 35 million Kenyans under the universal health coverage plan, according to data from the Kenya Health Federation.

To set the ball rolling, Treasury Cabinet Secretary Henry Rotich announced a Sh69 billion allocation to health in the 2018/19 budgetary proposals.

Priority is to be given to free maternity care (Sh13.7 billion), Kenyatta National Referral Hospital (Sh11.7 billion) and cancer equipment (Sh7 billion).

While tabling the recommendations, Mr Rotich also proposed a 12 per cent excise tax on mobile money and bank transfers to finance UHC; amendments to the National Hospital Insurance Fund (NHIF) Act and partnerships with development partners.

Much of that excise tax money will come from transfers by subscribers of Kenya’s largest mobile phone operator, Safaricom, which also has the largest mobile money market share, and recorded Sh62.9 billion in M-Pesa revenue in 2017.

Health pundits agree that the success of the UHC plan lies in revamping the NHIF model, that might see the Federation of Kenya Employers and the Central Organisation of Trade Unions lose their seats at the table should the proposed amendments be adopted.

The amended NHIF Act will also see reforms in the governance of private insurance companies to align them to the universal health coverage.

However, there are concerns about allocating funds to cover secondary school students, some of whom are already covered under their parents’ or guardians’ NHIF covers, with suggestions that allocation should focus on those who are not.

BETTER MANAGEMENT

There are also concerns about NHIF’s service delivery as well as financial transparency. To address this, better management of NHIF as the vehicle for UHC, and public presentation of its financial records is set to be discussed at a high-level meeting between the president and the private sector.

Given that the 2.3 per cent of the total budget allocated to healthcare is a drop in the ocean in the quest to achieve UHC by 2022, the government will be counting on development partners to boost financing through public private partnerships.

Currently, such partners contribute about 26 per cent to the health budget.

Partners like the World Health Organisation have already pledged support and mobilisation of support for the government’s priorities.

The WHO also has initiatives to support the Ministry of Health through policy formulation.

Luckily, Kenya is not short of partners who want to help it achieve its “health for all goal” with various organisations supporting local health initiatives. They include: KEMRI-Wellcome Trust through medical research primarily at the coast, Philips Africa who have spearheaded county talks such as the upcoming Lake Basin Health Dialogue; General Electric through medical equipment and training of personnel; Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation’s maternal and child health investments and Merck Healthcare’s policy research on vaccine manufacturing.

However, even as we put our money where our mouth is, and given that a healthy nation is a wealthy nation, we need to go beyond focus on funding for curative services.

 We must focus on prevention, research (the planned establishment of a cancer institute is a plus) and promotion of a healthy lifestyle through healthy diet, physical activity and other healthy practices. 2022 is not far off, and with collaboration among stakeholders, Kenya can achieve its “health for all” target.

Laban-Cliff, a business news anchor at NTV, will be moderating the Nation Leadership Forum “Our Health, Our Future” at the University of Nairobi Auditorium on 5th July.