The National Health Sector Strategic Plan (NHSSP II), Kenya’s comprehensive out-put and performance oriented strategy of the health sector, comes to an end in June 2012. A review of the strategic plan will be undertaken from February to March 2012, paving way for the development of the next plan: Kenya Health Sector Strategic Plan-KHSSP (2012-2017). [...]

“Removing User fees has the potential to improve access to health services, especially for the poor” (B. Messen, et al, 2011). An ‘experts consultation’ organized by UNICEF in 2005 reached a similar consensus, one that has been corroborated by various experts on health across the world. However, B. Messen, et al synthesizes from a set [...]

Generating awareness and interest in proven social health financing and comprehensive health systems strengthening mechanisms was among the key recommendations at the 1st Pan-African Health Congress held in Accra Ghana in November. The Congress under the theme “creating a movement for universal coverage in health for Africa” was attended by representatives of Ministries of Health, [...]

It is now illegal to practice female circumcision, procure the services of a circumciser, or send somebody out of the country to undergo the illegal ‘cut’. The recent Presidential accent of the “Prohibition of Female Genital Mutilation Bill, 2010” has made the 1999 ban on Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) into law. Offenders of this law [...]

The Ministries of Health are in the process of reviewing policy, legal and administrative frameworks of the health sector in line with the new Constitution. The key documents under review and which have been presented for stakeholders’ inputs are the draft Comprehensive Kenya Health Policy Framework 2011-2030 and the Draft Position Paper on the Implementation [...]

In the year 2009, when the government established the Hospital Management Services Fund (HMSF), the health facility management boards at the facility level were replaced by management committees through Legal Notice No. 155 of the Government Financial Management Act.
Subsequent to the establishment of the Hospital Management Services Fund (HMSF) the Ministry of Medical Services (MOMS) embarked on a process to strengthen the management and governance systems through building the capacity of the newly appointed Hospital Management Committees across the country. This included the gazettement of the National Hospital Services Committee (NHSC) at the national level and of the Hospital Management Committees (HMCs) at the hospital level. The NHSC was gazette on 22 January 2010 and inaugurated on 6 May 2010 while the HMCs were gazetted on 1 April 2010. The next step undertaken by the Ministry of Medical Services with the support of Development Partners was the formulation of the Governance Guidelines for Hospital Management Committees and inducting these committees into their new roles. At the initial stage, the Ministry of Medical Services received funding from USAID through the Management Sciences for Health (MSH) to develop the guidelines, conduct training of trainers at the provincial level across the Country and produce a national rollout plan and budget. GIZ participated and provided technical input into the development of these guidelines.

During the national roll out of these guidelines, GIZ provided substantial resources to the Ministry of Medical Services towards the induction of the Hospital Management Committees. To date approximately 1553 members of Committees from 161 hospitals have received training and approximately 1032 members of Committees from 107 hospitals are yet to be trained. GIZ financed the training of 600 members of committees from 62 hospitals.

The Ministry of Public Health and Sanitation commissioned a study to assess of the institutional capacity and preparedness of FBO dispensaries and health centres for the disbursement of the Health Sector Services Fund (HSSF). The study was supported by the German International Cooperation (GIZ) and the World Bank. The assessment focused on the fiduciary risks, institutional and governance arrangements and the human resource capacity to successfully manage the funds and meet agreed service delivery targets on disbursement. The preliminary findings indicate that the Faith Based Central Secretariats in Nairobi (KEC, CHAK and SUPKEM) and the health facilities have adequate financial systems, suitable governance structures and an adequate planning and budgeting framework to receive the HSSF Disbursements.

…One of the main reasons for the Rwandan success is strong leadership and political will (Megan Ireland, Elisabeth Paul, & Bruno Dujardin) …it is effective in failed states such as the Central Africa Republic and the Democratic Republic of the Congo (Robert Soeters & Piet Vroeg) Performance based financing (PBF) is interesting due to its [...]

The need for more public participation in implementing the Constitution within the health sector, particularly in decentralization of resources, has been identified as one of the gaps in two key documents in the sector, the Draft Position Paper and the National Health Policy Framework. The two ministries of health released the draft documents to health [...]

The World Health Organization has published a tool geared towards finding out the extent to which health sector strategies are consistent with, and promote human rights standards and principles, including gender equality. Published in collaboration with the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCR) and the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (Sida), the [...]