Kenya & East Africa Quarterly Report July - September 2016

HP+ is funded by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and supports the Government of Kenya (GOK) in its efforts to improve health policy and financing. HP+ has three main objectives, which are to increase sustainable finance and domestic resource mobilization for Kenya's health sector, strengthen national and county linkages to enhance Kenya's health finance, policy, and governance, and support regional (Eastern Africa) health networks to better position health financing agenda. The initiative is implemented in collaboration with various stakeholders, including the Ministry of Health (MOH), the National AIDS and STI Control Programme (NASCOP), and the National Coordinating Agency for HIV and AIDS (NACC). In the second quarter of 2016, HP+ implemented several activities aimed at achieving its objectives. In Component 1, HP+ provided technical assistance to the MOH to complete the analysis of national and county health budgets for FY 2015/16. The analysis showed that national and county governments are significantly increasing their budget allocation to health, but county governments are still limited by large allocations to wages, which constrains their ability to allocate sufficient resources to other health inputs. HP+ also assisted the Ministry to prepare policy documents related to the redesigned policy, including a Cabinet Memorandum to request cabinet approval for increased allocation to the free maternity services program. The program, christened "Linda Mama Boresha Jamii," was launched by the Cabinet Secretary for Health, Dr. Cleopas Mailu, on behalf of President Uhuru Kenyatta on October 18, 2016. In Component 2, HP+ contributed to strengthening relations between the national and county governments to ensure support for the national health financing strategy. HP+ supported the Health Sector inter-governmental Forum (HSIF) and its coordinating structures, facilitating the HSIF meeting in September 2016. The meeting addressed key issues and made recommendations on the need for increased resources for health at the counties, the need to sensitize counties on the Kenya Essential Medicines and Supplies List, and the need to invest more in ICT to ensure robust capacity in data forecasting and quantification of commodities. HP+ also supported the MoH to conduct the 2016 Kenya Health System Assessment (2016 K-HSA), which will evaluate the progress, challenges, and opportunities under each of the WHO health system building blocks. The study will be conducted according to the prescribed methodology contained in the HSA manual, and the results will inform decisions at both the county and national levels. In Component 3, HP+ supported regional (Eastern Africa) health networks to better position health financing agenda. HP+ provided technical assistance to the East African Community Health Secretariat to convene a workshop for EAC delegates to validate and finalize the EAC regional health policy. HP+ also commenced data collection for two key studies, the county health accounts for 14 counties and the costing of the new HIV guidelines on test and treat. Overall, HP+ has made significant progress in implementing its activities and achieving its objectives in the second quarter of 2016. The initiative continues to support the Government of Kenya in its efforts to improve health policy and financing, and its activities are expected to have a positive impact on the health sector in Kenya.