An Assessment of the Viability of Universal Health Coverage (UHC) Programme in Kenya

There is a global commitment to attain Universal Health Coverage (UHC). This was done in New York in 2015 when all 193 Member States of the United Nations (UN) agreed on the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), where they set out an ambitious agenda for a safer, fairer, and healthier world by 2030. The goals include a broad array of targets across different sectors. The inclusion of UHC in the SDGs presents an opportunity to promote a comprehensive and coherent approach to health, focusing on Health Systems Strengthening (HSS). UHC is based on the principle that all individuals and communities should have access to quality essential health services without suffering financial hardship. This acknowledges health as a human right as well as the fact that UHC has a direct impact on both individual health and wellbeing and the overall health of the population. It not only contributes to better health (SDG3), but also contributes to other SDGs, including economic growth and job creation (SDG8) , gender equality (SDG5), education (SDG4), nutrition (SDG2) and poverty reduction (SDG1) (World Health Organization t. I, 2017). As a result, its success would have great impact to a countries development hence the need to ascertain its viability in a given country. This thesis therefore sought to establish whether the pilot UHC programme rolled out by Kenya, as a member country of the UN and AU, is achievable as per the expectation of the bodies (UN and AU). Out of this research, it was found that Kenya has since independence exercised various models which in principle had some semblance of UHC with some variations from the proposed UHC under SDG 3. However, from this research, it was concluded that Kenya like any other developing country, has challenges unique to her and may have to come up with a model of UHC that works for her but still achieves the intended objectives of UHC under SDG3.