We often think of healthcare as something we turn to when unwell. A service we access, a system we rely on. Yet for many Kenyan households, healthcare is far more precarious: a financial cliff. A single illness, an unexpected accident, a hospital bill that exceeds a household’s income. A family that was just getting by suddenly finds itself in free fall, sacrificing school fees, skipping meals, or selling assets just to survive. A joint study by WHO and KEMRI Wellcome Trust found 13.7 per cent of households have experienced catastrophic health expenditure, with the burden falling most heavily on low…