Major health initiative launched by President William Ruto in which he announced that in the next three months, healthcare will be free for all including students in Kenya from birth to 18 years of age under the Social Health Insurance fund.
President Ruto said the government was in the process of increasing the scope of medical insurance upon touring development projects in Mathioya, Kìharu, and Gatanga constituencies within Murang’a County. “We are changing the old formula that provided medical insurance for secondary school students only. Now, the government will provide medical insurance to all school-going children up to the age of 18,” he said.
On other news, the President revealed that the Linda Mama program has now been extended to provide ladies with 10 pre-natal and post-natal visits, up from the current six. This is one of the flagship UHC programs that provides free maternity services to expectant mothers in public and selected private health care facilities.
Universal Health Coverage is part of the Big Four Agenda for Kenya, with the ultimate goal to guarantee each citizen access to affordable and good-quality health care, devoid of any financial strain. Conceived in 2018, the initiative targets expanding access to health care, improving service delivery, and lessening medical expenses actually incurred through out-of-pocket payments.