As we approach #Elections2017 in Kenya many different causes and interests will seek consideration by the various political parties. My personal inclination could have been to be ambivalent about it all and not bother about the agenda for the elections and its aftermath. But in the midst of the ongoing doctors’ strike and various moves made to entrench privatization of healthcare industry in Kenya I had to get out of my comfort zone and be part of a greater cause. This is a plea and a pitch for consideration of tax-funded single payer universal healthcare coverage or its hybrid as an essential pillar of attainment of the sustainable development goals (SDGs) for health and also the now almost moribund Kenyan Vision 2030.
The goals of universal healthcare
coverage as I suggest is to ensure
- All Kenyans have access to basic healthcare services within reach of their homestead
- Improved public healthcare system service delivery through better equipped hospitals and coordination and cascade of care through utilization of quality improvement tools to continuously monitor progress towards attainment of the goals.
- Greater utilization of local healthcare research in guiding policies and government investment in research and training centres in priority areas of healthcare.
- Improve human resources for health ratios and remuneration in line with best international standards
- Increase in government allocation for healthcare to the Abuja declaration goal of 15%.
- Better structures of governance and leadership and enactment of supporting legislations to ensure all tasks related to harmonization of the above tasked are completed.
The above are just a snapshot of
top of the mind recall goals and looking closely; you will notice they are the
same goals of the #LipaKamaTender doctors strike. However the doctors’ strike
did not articulate fully the fact that their goal has been towards universal
healthcare coverage.
Attainment of universal healthcare coverage is a human right that must be pursued by all countries of the world. The benefits of UHC funded by state includes a reduced per capital expenditure of health and better health outcomes. Better health translates to economically active population with further gains in production and increase in GDP thus better economic and social development. Academic arguments and writings about the subject are replete with evidence of success of UHC and the basis of actions towards UHC.
The plan of action towards this call to Universal healthcare coverage includes several steps. The first step starts with a petition to the various political parties to state their position on Universal Healthcare Coverage and to consider it as an essential pillar of their party manifesto on the health agenda. The party that shows concern towards the public and accepts to include Universal healthcare coverage has to be tasked to give a pledge that they will implement a series of steps elaborated below on assuming or retaining power. Towards this end, you can sign a petition calling on the major political parties to make UHC a top priority health agenda in their manifesto and for them to pledge to work towards UHC within 1 year of being elected. Of course this is a non-binding petition but it seeks to put pressure on the parties to realize the need for prioritization of UHC in their manifesto. We hope that parties will take up the challenge and follow through on the pledge.
I call on political parties to accept UHC as a priority goal and to follow through with a pledge that would include the following. In the first step, health system researchers and academics to be encouraged to share their works and other relevant studies from elsewhere on workable models for service delivery and healthcare financing. The experts in various aspects of health systems including healthcare financing, human resources for health, commodities management and leadership and governance should be consulted and a consultative forum towards a framework for the model should be held.
The second step will involve public participation to elicit their opinion on the route to use towards UHC. The citizen involvement can include stakeholder forums and surveys on health seeking and perception towards several elements of healthcare including funding, utilization and satisfaction.
Thirdly, a draft UHC policy should be developed and a health system review forum where the policy will be discussed should be convened. With consultation and dialogue it would be possible to come up with a final framework for UHC that can be entrenched in the laws and adopted.
As it is evident, the first step starts with you advocating for UHC through your completion of the petition. I hope that one day we shall look back and realize that change is possible and however difficult a path we shall attain UHC in our lifetime.
No comments:
Post a Comment