Primary Healthcare

Building momentum, mobilizing partners, and an elaborate design process

After two years of building momentum, mobilizing partners, and an elaborate design process, the Government of Kenya announced in 2017 at the UN General Assembly, the establishment of the SDG Partnership Platform, Kenya (SDGPP).

The Platform was established under the leadership of the Government of Kenya, and with the support of the UN System, development partners, and partners from private sector and philanthropy.

Primary Healthcare (PHC) has been the first window established with the goal to be a key driver towards attainment of Universal Health Coverage (UHC) in line with Kenya’s SDG3 framework, Big Four Agenda , and UHC roadmap.

Under the leadership of the SDGPP co-chairs, the Cabinet Secretary for Ministry of Health in Kenya, the Chair of the Council of Governors Health Committee, and the UN Resident Coordinator to Kenya, the PHC Window has established a Steering Committee which meets quarterly to jointly discuss and offer strategic guidance for the implementation of the Window’s 5-year strategic plan.

The PHC Window overall goal aims at contributing to the Government of Kenya’s efforts to attain the SDG target 17.17: Effective public, public-private and civil society partnerships, building on the experience and resourcing strategies of partnerships encouraged and promoted in Kenya. More specifically, the SDG3 Primary Healthcare Accelerator Window‘s support is contributing to Government of Kenya’s efforts in attaining the SDG target 3.8: Achieve universal health coverage (UHC), including financial risk protection, access to quality essential health care services, and access to safe, effective, quality, and affordable essential medicines and vaccines for all.

This goal is pursued through strategic efforts towards the following objectives:

• Enhanced trust and understanding between public and private sector to partner for financing and delivery of UHC.
• Enhanced government capacities to advance public private collaborations for the financing and delivery of PHC.
• Innovative partnerships and financing mechanisms advanced in support of Kenya’s domestic resource mobilization agenda for Health.
• Innovative solutions catalyzed to strengthen PHC delivery.

Implementation of the PHC Window strategic plan is coordinated by the Platform’s Secretariat and facilitated through SDGPP partners with comparative advantage to lead on specific SDGPP strategic support areas (e.g. World Bank and WHO are supporting the development of the Health PPP strategy and toolkit, UNDP is driving innovation through the SDG Accelerator Lab, and UNFPA leads on research, analysis, and Technical Assistance to MOH and COG for private sector engagement for RMNCAH).

The Secretariat also coordinates the mobilization of necessary talent, expertise, and financial support from the SDGPP membership to collectively resource the implementation of its strategic plan. So far, partners contributed between September 2017 – December 2019 approximately $7,055,000 of funding and in-kind support to the PHC Window for the implementation of its 5-year strategic plan.

The SDGPP has become a flagship initiative under Kenya’s UNDAF 2018-2022 currently contributing towards the following UNDAF outcomes:

• By 2022 people in Kenya access high quality services at devolved level that are well coordinated, integrated, transparent, equitably resourced and accountable.
• By 2022, people in Kenya have increased and equitable access to and utilize quality health services including Sexual Reproductive Maternal New-born Child Adolescent Health in emergency and non-emergency settings.
• By 2022, marginalized vulnerable groups and regions in Kenya have increased access to decent jobs, income and entrepreneurship opportunities.

Since inception, and in line with the its strategic plan, key milestones have been reached in Kenya, including:

• Enhanced trust and understanding between public and private sectors to partner for the financing and delivery of UHC through the facilitation of over 20 public private dialogues engaging national government, over 25 Counties and key stakeholders from private sector, philanthropy, civil society and academia.
• Enhanced government capacities to advance public private collaborations for the financing and delivery of PHC through, for example, the development of Kenya’s Health PPP strategy and toolkit.
• An investment pipeline of approximately $120 million has been identified and is currently being fostered to transform primary healthcare for approximately 20 million Kenyans.
• Supported the Government of Kenya to broker a new Strategic Partnership for which a Communique was signed on the 21st September 2019 in New York with the Center for Effective Global Action at the University of California, Berkeley, the Rockefeller Foundation, and the UN Family in Kenya to inspire future action and support for the delivery of Kenya’s Big Four agenda, including UHC. The SDG Accelerator Lab in Kenya powered by UNDP is at the heart of this partnership and envisioned to become the innovation engine for all the SDGPP Innovation efforts. The lab will take forward the recommendations from a SDGPP review of the status of digital health technologies in Kenya and outlining a roadmap for supporting their large-scale adoption.

To inform the work towards the respective milestones, solid market research on the status of primary healthcare in Kenya, and subsequent diagnostics on how to catalyze financing and investment has been facilitated by the PHC Window, as well as lesson learned have been codified in order to inform future replication in other countries, and expansion of work towards other thematic areas.

Additionally, the SDGPP Health Window has co-founded the National Business Compact against COVID-19 (NBCC) to catalyze local private sector action in support of the government response. Only between Mid-March and Mid-June significant support had already been mobilized with great results: 3240 handwashing stations set up in over 43 counties Reaching approximately 7.4 million people per month with over 149,000 bars of soap. TV ads with key influencers in 45% of Homes in Kenya (1.8 million households) and billboards across the entire country reaching 10 million out of home. Puppets series in local languages aired across on key national TV.