Innovation can help drive universal health coverage

Kenya has the highest rate of mobile Internet traffic and mobile penetration globally surpassing countries like South Africa and Singapore.

The country has been renowned for revolutions in mobile technologies and an expansive ICT infrastructure with 43 million mobile subscriptions and 94 per cent mobile penetration (CAK Quarterly Sector Statistics 2017/2018).

This is further supported by a vibrant innovation ecosystem ranging from local ICT start-ups and large enterprises to multinational companies such as IBM, Microsoft among others.

Narrowing down to the health sector, there is no doubt that Kenya has achieved unprecedented growth and development of innovations in health products and services. These include electronic health information management systems, mobile health (mHealth) applications, telemedicine, pharmaceutical supply and distribution, emergency response, hardware and 3D printing and even fintech and insurance products and services supported by ICT.

Despite the boom and grand statistics, the health sector is yet to feel the transformative impact of innovations evidenced by the cost of healthcare that is still higher in Kenya relative to other low- and middle-income countries and the fact that a significant population still grapples with access to quality healthcare – key aspects towards the achievement of UHC.

While the focus has been on health financing and expanding the fiscal space following the Government of Kenya’s renewed efforts towards UHC as one of its four-point agenda, an equally important aspect is managing the cost and quality of healthcare provision, which is where technology and innovations ought to impact, but have yet to.

So are these innovations overhyped or are we yet to feel the impact of Kenya’s silicon savannah? Let’s take the pharmaceutical sector under the microscope as an example.

READ: Kenya can seize the moment and deliver universal healthcare

A comparison of the build-up in the price of pharmaceutical products after they leave the manufacturing sites and move along the value chain (i.e. to importers, distributors, wholesalers and retailers) across several countries revealed that the price build-up is highest in Kenya where prices increasing by up to 400 per cent between the manufacturing site and the end-consumer (the patient).

Considering that the cost of pharmaceutical products represents up to 40 per cent of the cost of seeking healthcare in Kenya, this steep price build up means that the cost of healthcare in Kenya is disproportionately high and a barrier to the attainment of UHC.

While some may argue that the high cost of healthcare in Kenya is attributable to small business volumes, that argument finds no merit in fact.

This is because the pharmaceutical markets in Kenya and in 12 other leading economies in Africa realized strong growth over the past years and are poised to grow by up to 12 per cent annually and reach about 60 billion US dollars in valuation by 2020.With this in mind, the steep price build up in the pharmaceutical products in Kenya implies that indeed health innovations, especially those that aim to enhance efficiency in supply chain management, are yet to achieve tangible impact and reduce the cost of healthcare in Kenya.This is not to say that innovation and technology have had absolutely no impact but rather that more could be done given the resources and the opportunities at hand. On July 27, 2018, the Health Exchange (HealthX) dialogue platform for industry (including SMEs and startups), public sector and policy makers, civil society and academia hosted by E&K Consulting Firm in partnership with Strathmore Business School will delve deeper into this topic to understand where innovations in health are having an impact and where it is pure hype as well as what actors can do to support the ecosystem and scale these innovations to realize the impact.

Emmy Chirchir, co-founder and partner, E&K Consulting firm and convenor of The Health Exchange.