KENYA CONFERENCE OF CATHOLIC BISHOPS (KCCB) – CATHOLIC HEALTH DEPARTMENT OF KENYA (CHDK), 2024 ANNUAL HEALTH CONFERENCE

From 7th to 11th October 2024 in PrideInn Paradise Beach Resort, KCCB – CHDK had their this year’s annual health conference themed Transformative Health Financing Reforms Towards UHC: Strategic Positioning of Faith Based Health Facilities.

About 500 people attended this conference. KCCB, through CHDK provides oversight; coordinates, represents, undertakes lobbying and advocacy; and builds the capacity of Catholic health services and network. Today, this network of health services is expansive comprising of 497 levels 2 – 6 health facilities, over 50 community health programmes and 22 medical training colleges spread across Kenya in the 26 Arch/Dioceses.

To deliver on its mandate, the KCCB – CHDK hosts an annual forum that brings together the managers of all the Catholic health institutions and Arch/Diocesan Health Coordinators who undertake regional coordination of Catholic health services.

While the main objective of this forum is to strengthen the Church’s coordination structure to optimize the health Apostolate, it also provides a platform for experiences sharing and peer to peer learning. It further provides a great opportunity to reflect how the Church links to and responds to national and international priorities, emerging health issues and the subsequent realignment of the health sector strategy and priorities.

Focusing on how to work without NHIF/SHIF, attendees thought of coming up with a social health insurance that would be more reliable. ‘This is not acceptable’, said Rt. Rev. Norman Wambua King’oo, in reaction to NHIF’s inability to pay for Catholic health services that have already been delivered. Representative of Caritas Microfinance Bank even hinted that their social health insurance service or product is coming soon.

Based on the inability, KCCB-CHDK should ask Government of Kenya to not only allow KCCB-CHDK to form a health social insurance, but to also assist in doing so. NHIF/SHIF may be more efficient if a competing social health insurance came up.

Since discussions with governments take long, KCCB-CHDK should urgently start working with private businesses. acceleraeUHC requested the managers to ‘…get community health workers (CHWs) in your health facilities to provide medical services to households per our most ambitious plan (attached)… –– more households will start getting free medical services, CHWs will get per-service stipends and the facilities will provide related medical consultation, tests and or medicine at our cost per the plan…’