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The PROPEL Health successfully held a USAID-funded Consultative Inter-Ministerial Policy Dialogue on Strengthening Primary Healthcare (PHC) Financing and Service Delivery together with the Ministry of Health (MoH) and The National Treasury and Economic Planning, Kenya. The policy dialogue meeting was held on August 14-15, 2023, in Nairobi, Kenya. The event was also graced by PROPEL Health Kenya Country Office representatives (Dr. David Khaoya and Caroline Kamotho) and USAID Kenya East Africa team (Dr. Milka Choge; Nzoya Mungut; Dr. Mildred Shieshia and Annastacia Kumola).

The dialogue sessions were moderated by Dr. Scholastica Odhiambo (AERC) and Dr. David Khaoya (PROPEL Health- Kenya Country Director). The policy dialogue meeting was facilitated by Dr. Moses Muriithi, Dr. Martine Oleche and Douglas Wanja. The participants from the MoH from both the State Department for Medical Services and the State Department of Public Health and Professional Standards were Dr Maureen Kimani, Dr. Salim Hussein, and Ruth Kamar. TNTEP was represented by the State Department of National Treasury (Yusuf Karo) and the State Department of Economic Planning (William Komu, Kevin Njuki; Taubman Olang; Judith Onyango and Chrisantos Okioma).

The Inter-Ministerial Policy Dialogue meeting is premised on a participatory approach and localising practical solutions in a bid to improve resource mobilisation, allocation (TNTEP) and efficient utilisation of resources for best service delivery and PHC outcomes (MoH). The focus of the policy dialogues is to strengthen PHC financing and health outcomes in order to raise awareness about the need for adequate, predictable, efficient, and sustainable finance for primary care as the best mechanism to improve health outcomes.

The inter-Ministerial Policy platform enhances collaboration, synergy, and alignment of resources. The ongoing policy dialogues are envisaged to increase the effectiveness of both ministries in identifying challenges in resource planning and budgeting; facilitating agreements to expedite the release of allocated funds; tracking utilisation; enhancing efficiency, accountability and transparency of PHC spending over the budget cycle at the national and sub-national levels. The expected outcome of the policy dialogues is to facilitate the co-creation and launch of a collaborative framework between the Ministry of National Treasury and Economic Planning and the Ministry of Health to strengthen PHC financing and health service delivery. This is expected to drive better health outcomes through efficient and effective resource allocation and spending in the health sector.

The consultative policy dialogue meeting deliberated on the preliminary findings on needs, challenges, and opportunities for collaboration to strengthen PHC financing and service delivery in Kenya. The participants from the two ministries interacted and deliberated on the building blocks of a collaborative framework from their experiences in implementing PHC financing and service delivery in the health sector. The dialogue participants shared existing collaborative engagements between MoH and TNTEP, highlighting their strengths and weaknesses. More deliberations on improving future collaborative engagement between the two ministries were benchmarked on the following building blocks: Structure of the collaborative framework; enhancing co-operation for resource mobilisation and utilisation (what to do?); guiding principles of collaboration; modes of co-operative engagements (how to do it?); the shared purpose of the collaborative framework (why and how to collaborate?); and stakeholders in the collaborative framework (who is involved in the collaboration).

Feedback from the Ministry of Health and The National Treasury and Economic Planning emphasised that the policy dialogue was timely and addressed the importance of collaboration between the two ministries. The health financing reforms and attainment of Vision 2030, SDG health goals, and Primary Healthcare Strategy implementation by the Government of Kenya require sound collaborative engagement between all key players and a sector-wide approach. Also, they emphasised that a collaborative framework would provide a foundation for other much-needed collaborative engagement with other Ministries in Kenya. There was also a clarion call for similar policy dialogue at the County Government Departments of Health and Departments of Finance and Planning, as well as inter-governmental policy dialogues to reinforce resource mobilisation and efficiency in the utilisation of resources for better health outcomes in Kenya.