Living Goods, in partnership with the USAID Misingi Imara Project, is committed to strengthening community health systems. A recent two-day meeting in Kisumu, organized in collaboration with USAID Uongozi wa Afya Thabiti, convened key stakeholders from various counties to focus on the implementation of the Universal Health Care (UHC)Act, which provides the necessary legal and institutional framework for the successful rollout of Universal Health Coverage.

Meeting Objectives:

1. Increase awareness and compliance with UHC Acts.
2. Strengthen resource mobilization and allocation for community health.
3. Promote health leadership and governance policy adoption.

Key Insights from these discussions:

• Counties are at different stages of implementing the Facilities Improvement Funds (FIF) Act, which ensures efficient, secure, and accountable revenue management from health services.
• Nakuru County is the only one with Autonomous Revenue Retention since 2014.
• Establishing primary healthcare networks (PCNs) and community health units (CHUs) with an emphasis on stakeholder engagement for sustainable services.

Counties are being encouraged to use effective revenue management methods to ensure sustained funding for community health programs. Living Goods will continue to push for the full implementation of the FIF Act across this 10 counties (Turkana, West Pokot, Kakamega, Trans-Nzoia, Nakuru, Nairobi, Kajiado, Taita Taveta, Kilifi, and Kwale) to improve availability of resource for health services.

These workshops aim to integrate budgetary allocations for community health activities and support for the needy into work plans for the fiscal year 2023/2024. Efforts will be made to identify and train Community Health Promoters (CHPs) and ensure that they are well-equipped and supported.

Our experiences in other counties have been valuable in educating and training County Health Management Teams (CHMT) and Sub-County Health Management Teams (SHMT) on their new roles under the UHC Acts. Engaging with county health management teams and other partners will ensure preparedness for implementation.

Also emphasized is the important role of policy briefs in health policy advocacy. For Living Goods, this strengthens our advocacy approach, emphasizing data-driven decision-making and strategic alignment with broader health system strengthening efforts.