Phyllis Muhere felt relieved as she left Kenyatta National Hospital last month, cradling her newborn son. Eager to return home to Kawangware, an informal settlement on the outskirts of Nairobi, in Kenya, Muhere’s joy was tempered by the frustrating delay she experienced due to a transition to a new national health insurance program.
Muhere had not registered for Kenya’s new Social Health Insurance Fund, or SHIF, at the time of her delivery resulting in a four-day delay before she was released from the hospital. She said many patients were struggling with the registration.
In Kenya, health insurance is available through both government and private providers. In a bid to achieve universal health coverage, the government launched SHIF last month, replacing the National Health Insurance Fund — NHIF — which had been in place for over 50 years.