President William Ruto has defended his administration’s health reforms, unveiling a series of figures he said demonstrate significant progress towards achieving Universal Health Coverage in Kenya.
Speaking on Tuesday, August 18, 2026, when he opened the Kenya Health Summit at the Kenyatta International Convention Centre (KICC) in Nairobi, Ruto said 32.3 million Kenyans had now registered with the Social Health Authority (SHA).
The figure, he said, represents a major expansion in coverage compared with the eight million beneficiaries registered under the defunct National Hospital Insurance Fund (NHIF).
Ruto said the government had also strengthened funding for healthcare facilities since the introduction of SHA in October 2024.
“SHA has received more than KSh209 billion and paid over KSh178 billion to contracted facilities in all the 47 counties,” he said, adding that the programme had facilitated treatment for eight million citizens.
The President cited increased access to primary healthcare as another key achievement of the reforms.
Through the Primary Health Care Fund, the government has disbursed KSh23.3 billion to support more than 20 million outpatient visits, benefiting over 15 million Kenyans.
A further KSh17 billion has been channelled towards maternal healthcare, including deliveries, according to the President.
Ruto also highlighted the government's intervention in specialised treatment, saying SHA had facilitated more than 500,000 surgeries across the country.
He said more than 50,000 cancer patients had received treatment through the new health financing system, compared with about 7,000 beneficiaries under NHIF.
The number of healthcare facilities covered by SHA has also risen to more than 10,700, which Ruto said had expanded access to medical services closer to where Kenyans live and work.
At the community level, the government has employed 107,800 Community Health Promoters in collaboration with county governments. The promoters have reached nine million households, helping identify health risks early and connect families to treatment.
The President further announced that 850 modern medical equipment units worth KSh9.7 billion had been delivered to hospitals in 44 counties under the National Equipment Services Programme.
The equipment includes CT scanners, MRI machines, digital X-ray systems, dialysis machines and ultrasound equipment.
Ruto also credited digitisation with improving medicine availability in public health facilities. He said KEMSA's medicine refill rate had increased to more than 91 per cent from 40 per cent three years ago.
Despite the gains, the President acknowledged that challenges remain in the implementation of the health reforms.
He said the government would continue working with county governments, Parliament and development partners to address the outstanding issues.
“We made a solemn promise to the people of Kenya to deliver Universal Health Coverage, and we will stop at nothing to fulfil that promise,” Ruto said.
The Kenya Health Summit 2026 is being used to assess the progress of the country's health reforms and identify areas requiring further intervention.