Kenya’s Social Health Authority (SHA) has reached 32.3 million registered members, nearly twice the highest membership recorded by the former National Hospital Insurance Fund (NHIF), as the government seeks to demonstrate that its health reforms are translating into wider access to care.
SHA CEO Dr Mercy Mwangangi announced the figure on Tuesday during the National Health Summit at the Kenyatta International Convention Centre (KICC) in Nairobi.
The milestone comes two years after SHA replaced NHIF, with the government now pointing to increased hospital access, more surgeries and expanded coverage for critical illnesses as evidence of progress.
Mwangangi said the number of health facilities available to SHA members has risen from 8,667 under NHIF to 10,713.
Government facilities account for 5,959 of the total, while 4,534 are private facilities and 541 are operated by faith-based organizations.
But beyond registration numbers, Mwangangi highlighted the growing use of medical services.
SHA has facilitated 501,839 surgeries over the past two years, compared with 227,741 during a comparable period under NHIF.
Renal-care beneficiaries have also increased from 8,831 under NHIF to 20,952 under SHA, while about 50,000 cancer patients have received cover, compared with 29,473 under the former scheme.
One of the notable changes has been in critical care. Mwangangi said NHIF did not cover ICU services, while SHA has so far paid for ICU treatment for 28,031 beneficiaries.
Primary healthcare has also seen an increase, with 9.3 million Kenyans benefiting from services under SHA — about 27 per cent more than during the comparable NHIF period.
Maternity services remain another major area of expenditure. SHA has paid for deliveries for 1.3 million mothers, with Sh17 billion spent on the services.
Overall, SHA has disbursed Sh178.5 billion through its various funds. The Social Health Insurance Fund accounted for Sh134 billion, Primary Healthcare Sh23 billion, the Public Officers Medical Scheme Sh16.9 billion, and the Emergency, Chronic and Critical Illness Fund Sh3.5 billion.
Mwangangi also reported rapid activity at the newly launched ambulance dispatch Centre, which received 18,534 calls within its first two weeks and dispatched ambulances to 506 incidents.
She said the expansion was ultimately about taking healthcare closer to the public, describing the reforms as being “measured in lives.”
The figures are being presented as the government takes stock of its health agenda at the two-day National Health Summit, which runs from August 18 to 19 under the theme, “Reform Delivered, Health as a Right.”
President William Ruto is presiding over the summit, which is examining progress under the Bottom-Up Economic Transformation Agenda (BETA).
The discussions are expected to focus on digital health, reforms at the Kenya Medical Supplies Authority (KEMSA), specialized healthcare, primary healthcare, maternal and newborn services, and the role of Community Health Promoters.
For SHA, however, the growing membership base presents a bigger test: whether the millions now registered can consistently access quality healthcare when they need it.
The government’s latest figures suggest the system has expanded significantly. The next measure of success will be whether that expansion is felt beyond the statistics — in hospitals, clinics and households across Kenya.
