Universal health care: Lessons Uhuru can learn from Nyayo Wards

Universal Health Care in Kenya can be dealt with if the issue of funding is taken care of. [Photo: Courtesy]

One of President Uhuru Kenyatta’s Big Four agenda is the provision of Universal Health Care. Of all of them, I consider this the greatest. After all, a healthy nation is a wealthy nation.

In the 1980’s then President Daniel Moi, attempted to address the issue of health care by spearheading the famous Nyayo Wards. Kenya had fallen out of favour with the donor countries and as result President Moi opted for fundraisers to cater for the shortfall in health care funding, including the construction of in-patient facilities. That somehow worked. Efforts by multilateral institutions such as the WHO and UNICEF complemented these efforts. But it was Mr Moi’s experimentation with African Socialism that had profound impact on healthcare provision in the country.