Thirteen counties under the Western Kenya Lake Region Economic Bloc plan to establish a regional health investment fund.
Health chairperson Sarah Omache said the fund will be used to improve priority areas.
The Kisii Health executive said the counties receive minimal support for healthcare. She said this has led to ill-equipped health facilities, inadequate personnel and other problems.
Omache spoke in Kisumu, where she said they will establish regional specialist hospitals to provide high-quality healthcare.
“The health sector in the Lake Region does not receive adequate funding. This has resulted in a huge disease burden and reduced human capital,” she said.
The bloc will hold a Health Investment and Exhibition Conference in Kisumu in November, with the theme ‘Strengthening Healthcare through Partnerships for Socioeconomic Prosperity’.
“Through the conference, the bloc aims to raise funds for priority areas, such as development of regional specialist hospitals,” Omache said.
She said the hospitals will be fully equipped at primary and tertiary levels. “Interventions identified will help the Lake Region to improve quality, responsiveness and equitable access to health services,” Omache said.
She said to achieve this, they will foster strategic investor partnerships to fund the projects.
Other priorities in the Mid-Term Management and Investment Strategy include digitisation of healthcare and development of a Regional Healthcare Insurance Fund to make services affordable and sustainable.
“We have gathered momentum on some of the flagship projects. The Healthcare Services Fund Bill has been through four county assemblies. In others, it is in various stages,” Omache said.
