NAIROBI —Kenya’s Health Minister Aden Duale has vowed to dismantle long-standing silos in the country’s healthcare system, promising donors a future of unified planning, shared accountability and full digitization.
Addressing representatives from the Development Partners in Health Kenya (DPHK) in Nairobi on Monday, Mr Duale said the government was turning a new page. From now on, he insisted, all donor-funded health programmes must plug into a single national framework, guided by the Digital Health Act.
“We’re building a fully integrated digital system that supports national priorities and avoids duplication,” Duale told the gathering. “This is how we make every shilling count for patients, for communities, and for the country.”
He stressed that any digital platforms whether existing or new must be vetted and run through the recently formed Digital Health Agency. “The goal is to enable traceability, support telemedicine, and ensure that only licensed professionals deliver care,” he said.
The consultative meeting came amid growing concern from partners about overlapping efforts, poor data sharing, and inconsistent accountability in Kenya’s sprawling health sector.
In response, Mr Duale outlined what he called the government’s “one plan, one budget, one monitoring and evaluation framework” a model meant to harmonize both domestic and donor efforts.
The new approach is also seen as critical to achieving Universal Health Coverage (UHC), one of President William Ruto’s flagship programmes. Duale listed six pillars underpinning UHC: government-funded primary care, a social health insurance model, reliable digital infrastructure, stronger referral networks, secure supply chains, and fairer distribution of health workers.
Dr Serawit Bruck-Landais, who chairs the DPHK group, welcomed the government’s direction. “We support the principle of country-led coordination,” she said. “Alignment improves efficiency and ensures our support genuinely meets people’s needs.”
Still, challenges remain. The meeting also addressed persistent concerns among them, the long-troubled Kenya Medical Supplies Authority (KEMSA), the slow pace of health financing reforms, and Kenya’s capacity to respond to disease outbreaks.
Duale was joined by top health officials, including Principal Secretaries Dr Ouma Oluga and Mary Muthoni, Health Director General Dr Patrick Amoth, and WHO country representative Dr Abdourahmane Diallo.
With public expectations high and donor patience thinning, the promise of ending fragmentation now faces a test of will and delivery.
