Health CS Sicily Kariuki and the Kenya UHC Package Advisory Panel chairman Prof Gilbert Kokwaro consult during Kenya UHC stakeholders engagement in Nairobi
Stakeholders follow proceedings during the Kenya UHC engagement in Nairobi
Health CS Sicily Kariuki expounding on UHC Package during the Kenya UHC stakeholders engagement in Nairobi
Health CS Sicily Kariuki responds to queries raised by the media during the Kenya UHC stakeholders engagement in Nairobi
KENYA July 6, 2018 – The Cabinet Secretary for Health Sicily Kariuki inaugurated the Health Benefits Package Advisory Panel (HBAP) to design an affordable, responsive health benefits package for the delivery of Universal Health Coverage (UHC) in
The CS said the panel of experts which is chaired by Prof. Prof. Gilbert Kokwaro will work with the Ministry of Health, the County governments, stakeholders and the public, to define the Health Benefits package which will form the starting point of the UHC journey.
“We expect that the initial phase of the Panel’s work will be completed in time for the roll-out of the UHC Pilot in the four Counties of Kisumu, Isiolo, Nyeri and Machakos,” the CS said.
During the first phase of UHC, in collaboration with County Governments, the Ministry of Health will monitor the responsiveness of the package to the needs of Kenyans to inform the scale up UHC to the rest of the country, she revealed.
“My Ministry is committed to accelerating the achievement of His Excellency the President’s pledge. We know that this is not an easy task, and we all need to work together to achieve Universal Health Coverage,” she declared.
The CS emphasized that UHC does not mean every service will be accessible to everyone immediately. “We have to make choices on where to start and then improve over time,” she said.
She clarified that the pilot areas were chosen on the basis of the disease burden, accidents, nomadic situation and population density.
The UHC Health Benefits Package Advisory Panel was formed by the Cabinet Secretary for Health on 8th June 2018 through Kenya Gazette notice No.5627.
The health benefits package developed by the Panel is intended to be a collection of health services that will be provided to Kenyans under the UHC agenda.
According to Prof. KoKwaro the Panel has deliberated on a list of criteria that will be used to identify which health services will be included and excluded from the health benefits package
These criteria will be revised based on consultations with the Kenyan public, health stakeholders and lessons learnt from implementation of the UHC Agenda
The Panel is now working on these criteria to develop the group of health services, medicine and procedures that will be provided to those that are eligible to receive services
Universal health coverage means that we want to ensure that all people have equal access to quality health services without suffering financial difficulty where they have to sell their assets in order to pay for health services.