Audio By Vocalize Across much of Africa, health financing remains fragmented across public, private, and donor channels. [Courtesy] Africa’s health financing discourse is at an inflection point. Historically anchored on resource mobilisation, particularly from external sources, the agenda is now reshaped by plateauing donor flows and shifting global priorities. This transition reframes the central policy question. It is not merely about how resources are mobilised, but whether health systems are structurally designed to deliver sustainable, efficient, and resilient outcomes over time. Health sovereignty is not about eliminating external support. It is about reducing structural dependence by building systems that can…
Author: By Njeri Jomo
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…