Nairobi, October 31, 2019 – The Cabinet Secretary for Health Sicily Kariuki is encouraging investment in the Kenyan health sector for the good of the people and the EAC region at large.
The CS said there is need for a health system-based approach in addressing the region challenges such as infrastructure, human resources, medical commodities and technologies, health information, research and health financing.
She made the remarks today during the Second East African Community Joint Ministerial, Development Partners and investors roundtable on investment in health in Nairobi.
“As the EAC region and even beyond, we recognize that our health systems are closely interlinked and the only way is to strengthen our governance systems for the health sector to realize efficiency and value for money,” she said.
In Kenya the CS noted, the Universal Health Coverage (UHC) has created investment opportunities in the sector and the government intends to scale up service delivery interventions towards a Primary Healthcare Approach through domestic resources with support from development partners and private sector investors.
They are also plans to establish regional cold chains for drugs and vaccines to ensure safe and high quality drugs are available in the regions, expand training of health workers for specialized health care and boost manufacturing for health products and technologies including medicines, non-pharmaceuticals and medical equipment for local and regional markets.
She noted that the country has made substantial progress in a number of health indicators in particular in the reduction of child and maternal mortality as well as new HIV infections.
“These results have been due to concerted efforts in making treatment and management of HIV/AIDS, Malaria and TB and immunization more accessible and affordable,” she said.
Over the past decade the Government of Kenya has progressively targeted its investments on pro-poor health interventions, including the improvement of health infrastructure and equipment, which has had a very significant positive impact on access to quality healthcare, including specialized services, the CS noted
“Through the National Hospital Insurance Fund, we are also targeting the elderly and people living with severe disabilities in our social health protection initiatives,”
she said.
The recent launch and roll out of Malaria Vaccine is another affirmation of Government commitment towards control and elimination of infectious diseases malaria being one of them and the launch and rolled out of the HPV vaccine as part of our routine immunization targeting 10-year-old girls with an aim to reduce incidence of cancer of the cervix.
She said the government will
continue to engage in collaborations and partnerships from various international and local partners and institutions to ensure its goals which are in line with global goals and commitments are achieved, including the promotion of public private partnerships, especially in health infrastructure, technological innovation and service delivery.
