The entrance to Sacred Heart Mukumu Girls in Kakamega County.
The year 2023 started on a high for the Health space. A few days into the New Year, the Health ministry in collaboration with the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics released the Demographic Health Survey key indicators report. As the year went by, new developments, good and bad, hit the limelight shaping the Health stories that reporters from the Nation Media Group, told.
Here are some of the stories that were the highlights for the year 2023.
KDHS Report
This year’s report was the seventh since its inception in the year 1989. The Kenya Demographic Health Survey report details indicators for the Health space on different things like nutrition, family planning, universal health coverage, chronic diseases, and gender based violence, among others. It therefore informs planning, monitoring and evaluation for the Health ministry.
Ideally, a new report should have come out in 2019 each survey comes out after every five years.
The report detailed the hits and misses for Kenya looking how far we have come since the first survey was conducted. Some of the hits include a decline in child and maternal deaths, more women embracing clinics and skilled births, decline in the female genital mutilation and a modest number of Kenyan women embracing modern family planning methods.
Some of the misses include; there was no data on the status of mental health in the country, teenage pregnancies in some parts of the country continues to soar and that there is low uptake of the health insurance.
Cancer Clinical Trials
Kenya hosted the first ever clinical trials for a possible cancer drug that aims to provide an alternative form of treatment to patients with a specific gene called the KRAS G12. The study trials are conducted at the Aga Khan University Hospital which is the first site in Africa. It was also the first time the study was being conducted in humans. The Nation had an exclusive interview with the first patient who was part of the clinical trials and after the story went up, hundreds of people showed interest but only those with the specific gene made the cut.
Mukumu Girls’ Illness
When some of the Mukumu Girls thronged hospitals around their school, it became business unusual. The students had similar symptoms, but no one could pinpoint what exactly was the cause of the illness. Unfortunately, some students and a teacher died in the process. The Nation team went to Mukumu Girls and spoke to affected families and some members of the community trying to find what went wrong. One cook, Douglas Muchela, intimated that the food and water in the school had, at some point, been contaminated therefore affecting the students. After the Mukumu story was highlighted in the media, the Health and education ministries reacted and had an overhaul in the school’s administration and also improved the school’s sanitation.
NHIF Scandal
It seemed like goodwill, only that the good part left the willing party in a bad shape. Residents were approached by the ‘goodwill’ ambassadors who asked them to carry their National Health Insurance Fund cards to access treatment for different ailments at a medical camp. Some ended up dying, others got disabilities that they have to live with forever. Nation’s investigation found out that the claims made to NHIF by the hospitals offering medical camps were contrary to what they actually did to the patients. Members of the Health parliamentary committee finalised the probe into the matter but a report on the conclusion has not been tabled to parliament yet.
Kemsa Scandal
As the country’s drugs supplier was in the process of sanitising its name following the creation of a new board, another mud stained their name putting Kenya in bad light in the face of funders. The indignity started when Kenya awarded an unqualified bidder to supply mosquito nets. The donor was also not happy with the change of specifications in the advertisement that was shared in the local dailies. Consequently, President William Ruto suspended the chief executive officer, Terry Ramadhani as well as the permanent secretary at the Health Ministry, Josephine Mburu. The entire board of Kemsa also had an overhaul and newbies were brought in.
The new Health Bills
Four new Bills related to Health were assented to by President William Ruto in attempt to resuscitate the Universal Health Coverage. The Bills (now Acts of Parliament) include; the Social Health Insurance Bill, Digital Health Bill, Primary Healthcare Bill, and the Facility Improvement Financing Bill. While all the laws bring new aspects to the Health sector, one which has been the talk of town is the Social Health Insurance Act which seeks to replace NHIF.
Under the Act, Kenyans will be expected to pay about 2.75 per cent of their household income to the Social Health Insurance Fund. This money will amount to about Sh 57 billion collected annually. The transition from NHIF to SHIF is however still underway. The other bills, like the Digital Health Act will digitize the health system by introducing a fully health electronic records system among other things. The Primary Healthcare Act will encompass different things key to those being empowering community health promoters. The Facility improvement financing Act on the other hand will ensure that money remitted at hospitals benefits the confines of the hospitals.
