Ruto announces SHA cover for all Community Health Promoters

Frontline community health workers across Kenya are set for a major welfare boost after President William Ruto announced a comprehensive health insurance plan that will see all Community Health Promoters (CHPs) covered under the Social Health Authority (SHA).

Speaking on Saturday morning at State House, Nairobi, where he hosted a section of Nairobi County’s community health promoters, the Head of State revealed that the national government has allocated Sh390 million to immediately jumpstart the process of onboarding these primary healthcare workers onto the state insurance scheme.

The move is part of a strategic push by the Kenya Kwanza administration to strengthen the country's grassroots healthcare infrastructure while ensuring that the very people tasked with promoting community wellness are themselves medically protected.

"I announce that the Government of Kenya, working with our counties, will make sure that every community health promoter has SHA as coverage," President Ruto stated.

Directing his instructions to Health Cabinet Secretary Aden Duale, who was in attendance alongside other senior state officials, the President stated that the executive is fully prepared to bankroll the transition.

"I would like to tell CS Aden Duale that we are ready to pay community health promoters more than Sh390 million. I would like to ask for that money to be taken to SHA," Ruto added, signalling an immediate budgetary directive to shift the multi-million-shilling allocation directly into the Social Health Authority's accounts.

Recognising that health remains a largely devolved function under the Kenyan Constitution, President Ruto emphasised that the success of the universal health coverage agenda relies heavily on co-operation with local leadership.

He lauded Nairobi Governor Johnson Sakaja for pioneering a collaborative, co-funding framework that will serve as a model for how the program will be sustained nationwide.

Under the agreed-upon intergovernmental partnership, the national government will provide the initial Sh390 million, while county governments are expected to match the commitment by contributing half of the required resources to guarantee seamless, long-term SHA coverage for their respective health promoters.

"I would like to thank our Governor of Nairobi, Governor Sakaja, because we have agreed that this journey will be a partnership between the National Government and the County Government," the President said.

"We will disburse Sh390 million, and our counties will give half so that our community health promoters are covered under SHA."

The meeting also brought together Health Cabinet Secretary Aden Duale, Public Health and Professional Standards Principal Secretary Mary Muthoni, Nairobi Governor Johnson Sakaja and other leaders from the national and county governments.