To ensure the medicines reach their intended destinations, KEMSA and county governments say they are investing in technology that will enhance end-to-end visibility in the supply chain and track the movement of healthcare products from the point of origin to that of consumption.
Waiguru says an elaborate e-LMIS (Logistics Management Information System) will help address the timeliness and completeness of reporting health commodities data, given the limitations in staff capacity.
"Moving forward, county governments should develop and adopt a standard policy on the use of e-LMIS, incorporate e-LMIS in the county health legislation with requirements for reporting by facilities, and jointly invest in a suitable e-LMIS that is interoperable with other health systems as well as county core information systems," she says.
The World Health Organisation (WHO) recommends developing and implementing a "medicines pricing policy to achieve a greater level of transparency, uniformity, and predictability in the pricing of medicines, including the consideration of reference pricing for medicines in the private sector."
According to a 2019 study, medicines account for up to 60 percent of healthcare costs in developing countries, including Kenya, and even when medications are available, patients have to pay for them.
Yet in Kenya, only seven percent of income for low-income earners is available for healthcare costs, including medicines.
"Owing to low availability of medicines in the public health facilities and poor accessibility to these facilities, most low-income residents pay out-of-pocket for health services and transport to the private health facilities," write Dennis Ongarora and others in the study titled Medicine Prices, Availability, and Affordability in Private Health Facilities in Low-Income Settlements in Nairobi County, Kenya.
The Kenya Demographic and Health Survey 2022 shows that out-of-pocket (cash) payments are the most common means of payment for both inpatient and outpatient expenditures, with only one in four Kenyans (26 percent) having some form of health insurance.
With the national rollout of UHC planned for later in the year, such scenarios will be a thing of the past.