Universal Health Care or UHC, which Kenya as a nation is envisioning, is not just about health care financing and access to health facilities. It encompasses many other components, including human resource, communication networks, technologies, information systems, quality assurance mechanisms, governance and legislation. It also includes the less thought-about activities such as rainwater harvesting, use of toilets, sanitary towels, and so on.

As often said, and as evident in these times of the corona virus pandemic, water and sanitation are critical for preventive health care, which is an important aspect of UHC. Therefore, to accelerateUHC in Kavililo Village, Kitui County, Ms Grace Mueni Nyaa had to start by nominating the village for water borehole drilling and water pump installation.

In return, Kavililo got a water borehole and a water pump.

Before then, water was so scarce in the village that Grace herself would load her car with jerrycans of water whenever she drove to the village. Some members of the community had to walk 12 hours for a single round trip to collect water. 

To accelerateUHC in a village you care about, you would start differently. Mr. Peter Mutua, a good gardener in Nairobi, started by self-nominating for toilet and his family got a toilet (in photo).

Before getting the toilet, Peter didn’t know whether to pay school fees for his children or to have his family members continue begging to use neighbours’ toilets.

Villages without toilets also get toilets, which are built in schools and on sides of busy roads within the villages. Toilets on roads sides also serve travellers that use the roads.

You could start to accelerateUHC with medical cover. Beneficiaries of medical covers do not have to travel to hospitals and pharmacies. Community Healthworkers (CHWs) are paid whenever they work virtually with selected doctors and hospitals to serve beneficiaries in rural areas. where hospitals and clinics are scarce.

Medical Cover beneficiaries get the usual in-patient and out-patient benefits. They also get services related to dental and optical care and maternity. Outpatient services start instantly, no waiting period. And villagers do not co-pay for in-patient and out-patient services.

You could start to accelerateUHC with rainwater harvesting systems. The systems have water cleaning components and are fitted on large roofs like those in schools and churches. Where roofs are not suitable for the harvesting, start by cleaning rain water collected in earth dams and from roads.

You could also start with reusable sanitary towels, which help girls to finish schooling. The non-harmful chemicals used to make the towels antimicrobial do not leak out of the fabric during use/wash as the treatment is permanently bonded to the fabric. Since the towel kills germs, it is suitable for use in places where access to clean water is limited.

How to accelerateUHC

Currently, up to 11 people are selected weekly for medical cover. Additionally, one village or school is selected for rainwater harvesting systems, toilets or reusable sanitary towels.

accelerateUHC by nominating the households and villages or schools that you care about for medical cover, towels, rainwater harvesting systems or reusable sanitary towels. You can nominate from anywhere in the world. While nominating, you share a photo representing your nominee.

After nominating, you invite your friends and relatives to go to the same website and ‘Get Involved” by voting for your nominee. They can vote from anywhere in the world. Voting is done by pointing with phone cameras at the photo representing the nominee — in other words, you and your friends and relatives crowd point at the photo in favour of your nominee.

Your nominee gets what you nominate them for on the calendar week when crowd pointing in their favour is higher than crowd pointing in favour of any other nominees. 

The crowd pointing determines when, not if, your nominee gets what you nominate them for. The crowd pointing makes the weekly selection fair. For beneficiaries of medical cover, the pointing also ensures regular renewal of medical coverage.

You can also point at advert(s) in page 2 of this infomercial, related organisations accelerateUHC with their print adverts. Organisations accelerateUHC by having their adverts made point-able so that you may have a lot more than photos to point at. You could also point at logos that you see frequently, on products you purchase, on receipts you get during purchasing, on the packaging you dispose of, on phone screens, on notepads, business cards, stickers, vouchers, and so on.