The 2012/2013 budget has allocated KES 12.3 billion to the Health sector. The allocation is expected to go towards

• Employment of 5,200 health workers among them, 715 doctors
• Improving immunization coverage for children and reducing morbidity and mortality from malaria
• HIV/AIDs, tuberculosis and non-communicable diseases (NCDS)

KES 1 billion has been allocated to NACADA to help in effective implementation of the Alcoholic Drinks Control Act 2010. The budget’s health allocation also considers measures to be put in place to deal with the issues of defaults on payments to hospitals by patients.

How practical is this allocation?

According to the Institution of Economic Affair Budget Guide 2012 report, a critical look into the Health Sector indicates that the number of medical personnel in relation to every 100,000 population is very small and below World Health Organization (WHO) recommendations. Meaning there is need for greater investment in medical training.

Medical Personnel 2008-2010

According to this report, the massive investment in health infrastructure development proposed in the budget 2012/2013 must be complimented by other reforms, including staff motivation and training to improve their attitude towards work.

The report further states that expenditure on medicine forms a significant part of the household budget, suggesting a streamlined medicine procurement process. Abuse of the procurement process inhibits access to quality health care services. Corruption in drugs procurement process could result in procurement of low quality or expired drugs. This could dampen the confidence of the citizens in the ability of the Health Sector to guarantee their access to quality health care.