Industry Analysis

Kenya’s health sector – and its health market - has undergone significant transformations over recent years. This is partly driven by rapid technological advancements and the development of robust legal and regulatory frameworks such as the Kenyan Constitution of 2010, the Vision 2030 Economic Development Plan, the Kenya Health Policy (2014 – 2030), and various Medium Term Expenditure Frameworks (MTEFs). Universal Health Coverage (UHC) which is one of the highest priorities of the Government of Kenya, is driving significant change for the public and private health sectors and is supported by new policies and high ambitions for its implementation. Within the last few months alone, Kenya has passed four critical acts of parliament that will bolster UHC: the Social Health Authority Act (2023), the Digital Health Act (2023), the Facility Improvement Fund Act (2024), and the Primary Healthcare Act (2023). These acts aim to address weaknesses in the healthcare system, including inadequate financing, poor availability and flow of data and information, retention of funds in the healthcare system, and the general structure of the healthcare system to allow for efficient coordination and appropriate patient referral. However, challenges remain with overall coordination of the health sector and market, with limited health market management capacity at the national and county levels; financing challenges continue to be prevalent and data availability and sharing across the public and private sectors is low.