Stung by the drastic cuts in healthcare financing by U.S. President Donald Trump's administration, the Ministry of Health has rolled out a strategy to enhance domestic funding to ensure continued services.

On Wednesday, Ministry of Health Cabinet Secretary Dr. Debora Barasa said the new funding roadmap is also in response to the country's reclassification to a lower-middle-income economy from an earlier ranking as low-income one.

"We developed the roadmap following the donor's announcement to exit supporting us after we were reclassified from a low-income to a lower middle-income country," Dr. Barasa told delegates attending a one-day forum to explore mitigation measures aimed at shoring up the country' domestic funding for health services.

Dr. Barasa announced that the new plan is currently under trial and is projected to run up to December this year, before being implemented across the country starting 2026 to 2030.

The new approach will give priority to acquisition of essential medical supplies, the delivery of services, personnel and the roll out of health management systems. It will also touch on improvements on infrastructure, including the coordination of vertical disease programmes, the Health CS explained.

She added that Kenya is keen on building strong institutions to ensure the provision of sustainable healthcare services. At the moment, Dr. Barasa noted that Kenya's medial needs forecasting and quantification systems can guarantee adequate medical supplies, including a buffer stock that can last an average of six months.

Donor support

As part of plugging the gap left by medical services donor support especially on HIV and AIDs, the ministry announced an operational plan that could enhance the running of a resilient HIV response beyond 2030.

The ministry is betting big on enhancing governance, service delivery systems, funding, health products and tech, and engagement plans across communities to manage the disease.

Dr. Barasa noted that by perfecting the Social Health Insurance Fund, the country will manage to set the base for a sustainable, locally-driven plan to respond to HIV and AIDS, as well as other public health issues.

To realise the plan, the CS urged MPs to push for more budget allocations to the health sector, especially initiatives targeting the management of HIV.

At the moment, the Ministry is facing a KES5 billion financing gap to tackle pressing HIV management needs within the next three months and an additional KES13 billion in the FY2025/26 to keep HIV mitigation programs running in the wake of USAID shutdown.

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