Government releases Sh396 million to provide health cover for CHPs

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The Government has released Sh396 million to the Social Health Authority (SHA) to provide health cover for Community Health Promoters (CHPs) alongside their families.

This follows President William Ruto’s pledge to protect the frontline workers delivering healthcare at the household level.

The money, allocated under the 2026/27 financial year, has already been wired to the SHA account, according to a letter by Public Health Principal Secretary Mary Muthoni to SHA Chief Executive Officer Mercy Mwangangi.

“This is therefore to inform you that the same has been remitted to the SHA bank account for your necessary action,” reads a section of the letter written over the weekend.

All the 107,800 CHPs, alongside their families, are expected to benefit from the scheme.

Their enrolment follows a presidential announcement made during the Health Summit on August 18, where he said the CHPs and their families would be enrolled in the social scheme.

Health Cabinet Secretary (CS) Aden Duale said the names of all the CHPs had been verified by SHA and their details uploaded onto the digital health system.

“CHPs are soldiers at household. We acknowledge this, and I promise their names have been verified by SHA,” said CS Duale.

The cover will allow CHPs to access health services from Level 2 hospitals up to referral hospitals at Level 6.

Through the cover, CHPs shall also access services in private and faith-based hospitals accredited by SHA.

Provision of insurance cover, according to President Ruto, is part of efforts to make healthcare a right accessible to every Kenyan, as provided for under the Constitution.

President Ruto emphasised that CHPs play a critical role in shifting Kenya’s health system from a curative model to one focused on prevention and early detection.

The President applauded the role of CHPs in taking healthcare services to households.

“Before doctors, we have CHPs, before hospitals, we have CHPs,” said President Ruto.

Since their rollout in October 2023, the CHPs have visited nine million households, screening residents and referring about 750,000 Kenyans to hospitals for further care.

The workers conduct household screening for conditions such as malaria using testing kits to identify cases and refer patients who require further care. In addition, they screen for non-communicable diseases (NCDs) such as hypertension and diabetes.

Additionally, the President announced plans to equip CHPs with mobile phones and kits to improve data collection, reporting and delivery of primary healthcare services.

During the Health Summit, at least 7,800 CHP kits were distributed to providers. Most of the beneficiaries were those who had initially missed out on supplies distributed in October 2023.

Nevertheless, the Government pledged to provide and replace equipment for all the 107,800 CHPs within 90 days.

The kits and digital devices are expected to enable CHPs to transmit data and information on patients and services provided at the household level.

Further, Ruto described CHPs as the “soldiers at household level”, saying their work had helped Kenya identify illnesses and high-risk cases before they progressed to emergencies.

CHPs were rolled out in October 2023 to help promote promotive and preventive health, moving away from a system focused primarily on curative care.

The CHPs are paid a stipend of Sh5,000 monthly, shared equally by the county and national governments.

At the same time, Ruto said the Government would continue working with county governments to strengthen the community health programme, arguing that prevention and early intervention would reduce pressure on hospitals.

At the same time, the President also defended the SHA reforms against critics, saying CHPs working across the country provided evidence of the scheme’s impact at the community level.

Scrapping SHA, according to Ruto, is unfortunate and such a move would return the country to a system where Kenyans relied on harambees to meet medical costs.

This, he said, would also undermine efforts to make healthcare a constitutional right.

The critics, according to the President, are individuals who have not registered with SHA, visited hospitals for care, or interacted with patients.

“I heard someone, a politician, say if he gets to power, he shall scrap SHA. Which kind of thinking is this? This means such a person wants to get back to harambees when people get sick. Payment for fake claims and forget surgeries,” said President Ruto.

Ruto said his administration was building a health system designed to ensure Kenyans access quality care without being pushed into financial hardship.