Governor Lenku steps up bid to boost UHC coverage in Kajiado

Kajiado Governor Joseph Ole Lenku has launched a new round of Universal Health Coverage (UHC) outreach to rural communities in the county.

The governor has deployed 2,100 volunteers in the county's 25 wards to comb rural villages to register families for health insurance dubbed Mbuzi Moja, Afya Bora.

The community health promoters have been tasked with enrolling all elderly people above the age of 65 for free insurance coverage, which the county government has partnered with the National Hospital Insurance Fund.

The volunteers will be given a monthly stipend to enable them to carry out the exercise. Launched in Kajiado in 2018, the Mbuzi Moja, Afya Bora initiative has so far enrolled 25,500 households into the scheme.

While commissioning the volunteers during the Jamhuri Day celebrations in Kimana town with the county commissioner, Jude Wesonga, Governor Lenku said the new initiative aims to double the number of UHC-compliant residents.

"We have covered 25,000 people in our programme. We want to take it to 50,000 households in the next one year," said Governor Lenku.

During the Jamhuri Day celebrations on Tuesday, the governor issued NHIF cards to the elderly in Kajiado South and promised to ensure that no elderly person is left out.

"We want all our elders to be fully covered. This is our gift as a government," he said.

When it was launched in Mr Lenku's first term, the Mbuzi Moja, Afya Bora programme involved a family donating a goat for NHIF coverage

 The goats were collected and sold to the public for Sh6,000 and the money was channelled to NHIF for the cover.

The volunteers were issued with a full kit of basic health equipment to diagnose residents before referring them to health facilities.