Policy Brief No. 14 of 2023-2024 on Promoting Healthcare Service Delivery in Kenya

Abstract

The Constitution of Kenya guarantees all citizens the right to quality healthcare.1 The government has made efforts to expand coverage of health services after devolution and to cushion the poor and other vulnerable groups from financial risks. However, individuals are still travelling longer distances to access healthcare services and catastrophic health expenditure has increased significantly. The under-five mortality and neonatal mortality stands at 41 and 21 deaths per 1,000 births, respectively, according to the Kenya Demographic and Health Survey 2022.2 About 56 per cent of infant deaths occur during the first month of life and majority of these reside in the poorer areas and arid and semi-arid land areas. The number of health facilities has more than doubled from 4,421 in 2001 to 9,064 facilities in 2020 and 60 per cent of the counties have achieved the WHO target. The country’s core health workforce density is 15.6 per 10,000 population, which falls short of the WHO recommendation.3 Additionally, the distance covered to seek health services from a health facility is higher than the 5km radius that has been recommended by WHO. The average catastrophic health expenditure is higher now than after devolution in both rural and urban areas.