For the betterment of the people and the EAC region at large, the Cabinet Secretary for Health, Sicily Kariuki is encouraging private sectors for investment in the health sector.
The Sicily Kariuki highlighted the basic region challenges such as infrastructure, human resources, medical commodities and technologies, health information, research, and health financing.
She made a comment on investment in health sectors during the Second East African Community Joint Ministerial, the development partners and the investors meeting 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 aiming to launch cold chains to make available the safe and high-quality drugs and vaccines 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.
At the same time the country has made positive progress in a number of health indicators in particular in the reduction of child and maternal mortality as well as new HIV infections, she noted.
“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.
The CS stated, in the last few years, the Government of Kenya has gradually targeted its investments to satisfy the need for health interventions, including the improvement of health infrastructure and equipment, which has had a very significant impact on access to quality healthcare, including specialized services.
She said, “Through the National Hospital Insurance Fund, we are also targeting the elderly and people living with severe disabilities in our social health protection initiatives.”
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 the 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.
