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By Allan Kisia
NAIROBI, KENYA: An international community-focused organisation wants the government to allocate more funds to the health sector to help tame rising child and maternal mortality.
In its submission to the National Assembly, World Vision Kenya, is advocating for additional Sh182 billion to the ministry of Health to help improve the health care system in the country.
World Vision Kenya (WVK),which has presence in more than 35 counties, says the Sh34 billion budgetary allocation to the ministry of Health is inadequate to make significant change in the Health care system. 5
In a proposal to the Parliamentary Committees on Budget and Appropriations and Health, WVK says Kenya ought to allocate at least 15 per cent of its national budget to the health sector as was agreed by African nations in Abuja in 2001.
As it becomes clear Kenya is unlikely to attain this, WVK proposes a progressive mechanism that would see an allocation of at least 12 per cent of the national budget to the health sector this year.
“We propose that the government progressively increase public spending to the health sector to meet Abuja Declaration of 15 per cent of total budget and also in line with World Health Organisation per capita health spending of US$44. We recommend that the government allocates at least Sh216 billion to the health sector, representing at least 12 per cent of the National Budget,” WVK’s Child Health Now Campaign Manager Mr Brezhnev Otieno says in the proposal.
Mr Otieno points out that improved funding to the Health Sector would go along way in helping achieve the Millennium Development Goals 4, 5 and 6, which advocate for reduction of child and maternal mortality and eradication of HIV/AIDs, Malaria, Tuberculosis and other diseases.
“The lack of basic health care services and adequate personnel, coupled with poor health financing has largely contributed to high morbidity and mortality rates in the County, particularly among pregnant women and children,” Mr Otieno points out in the WVK’s proposal.
Statistics indicate that close to 74 out 1000 live births don’t live to see their fifth birthday as they often die from preventable causes and conditions such as malaria, pneumonia and childbirth complications. The situation is worse in the rural areas.
Owing to this situation, WVK which is working in more than 61 centres across the country to improve the lives of communities, launched-in 2009- a global Child Health Now Campaign that aims to reduce the child mortality rate to 33 per 1,000 live births by 2015.
WVK proposes the bulk of the increased allocation should focus on promotive health care and public education programmes by increasing and sustaining resources in programmes such as Child and Maternal health care.
Some of the diseases that are prevalent among children under five are Pneumonia, Malaria and diarrhea. Kenya’s 2013 Economic Survey report lists Pneumonia as the leading cause of death among children under five. According to the statistics one in every five deaths is attributed to Pneumonia.
“For improved health care system, there is need for the government to allocate more funds that will be used to expand and equip health facilities and also increase more health personnel to areas that are in dire need,” states the WVK’s proposal.
The Organisation recognised the government’s efforts to offer free maternal health care saying it would prove access to medical care to the poor.
WVK also asks the government to explore alternative health financing options such as strengthening the pooling of resources under pre-payment schemes such as National Social Health Insurance Scheme and shift public spending in the health sector from tertiary health facility level to the lower level health facilities that are responsive to the poor.
Justifying WVK’s push for more budgetary allocation, Mr Otieno pointed out that health spending shows that Households remain the largest contributors of health financing, at 35.9 per cent while the government and donors, who contribute approximately 30 per cent.
“Household out of pocket payment share of total health expenditure still remains high and this raises questions about fairness or equity in access to health care; with user fees often discouraging the poor from seeking health care and further worsen their poverty levels,” explains Mr Otieno.
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