By People Daily Correspondent @PeopleDailyKe
In the past couple of weeks, Kenya’s spending on health has come into focus through media coverage of newly-launched initiatives such as the transfer of management of the free maternal healthcare project to the National Hospital Insurance Fund and the Universal Health Coverage in Africa side event at the just concluded Ticad conference.
Public officials have been spewing out facts and figures as proof of the progress achieved through various interventions to meet national health priorities and goals. But how accurate are claims that more money to health has translated to better services to the public? For instance, according to CoastWeek.com, the government has allocated $600 million (Sh600 billion) to health in the Financial year 2016/2017.
And speaking on the same topic later during the Ticad conference, the Deputy President William Ruto, was quoted in a local daily saying Kenya has increased investment to the health sector by 55 per cent. But how much has the government set aside for the health sector in Kenya?
How does this allocation compare to health spending in the past? PesaCheck— a regional fact-checking initiative— in collaboration with the International Budget Initiative (IBI), contradicts the government position. In fact, the budget documents reveal that only Sh60.3 billion or about $60 million at prevailing exchange rates, has been allocated to the health sector.
Perhaps, this erroneous reporting either to a typo or a miscalculation in converting to foreign currency. In comparison, the stated $60 million is closer in amount to the government’s allocation to the free maternal healthcare initiative.
How accurate?
The statement by DP Ruto that Kenya has increased investment in health by 55 per cent may also not be accurate. This is because a scrutiny of different budgetary documents reveals that the FY2016/17 health allocation of Sh60.3 billion, when compared to the allocation made by the Jubilee government in its first year in office (FY2013/14), is actually a 61 per cent increase from Sh37.5 billion.
When further compared to the 2014/15 budget, the Sh60.3b represents a 27 per cent increase from Sh47.4 billion. Finally, when this year’s allocation is compared to last year’s budget FY 2015/2016 (Sh59.18b), the amount represents only a two per cent increase.
Given the ambiguity on what the increase in investment was pegged on, and depending on the baseline year given, the claim of increased funding to the health sector is misleading unless there is data which has been either wrongly captured or failed to come through to the public.
And if all facts remain constant, from a baseline year of 2013/2014, Ruto’s assertion of 55 per cent increase in funding to health, represents an underestimate by six per cent.
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