Devolution and healthcare services provision for women small scale traders in informal settlements in Nairobi Kenya
Date
2016Author
Kamau, Anne
Kamau, Paul
Muia, Daniel
Baiya, Harun
Ndungu, Jane
Type
ArticleLanguage
enMetadata
Show full item recordAbstract
In the current Kenya political dispensation, h
ealth care is a
devolved function.
At the same
time, the Kenya government is moving towards universal health
coverage. Both situations, if
implemented w
ould guarantee access to health
care by all Kenyans in all regions. This paper
focus
es
on devolution and
health
care services provision for
women small scale traders
in
urban informal settlements in Nairobi
. The paper
examine
s
whether
women
informal sectors
workers
have access to formal
healthcare benefits
that would guarantee them access to care
when in need
. The
p
aper is
based on a study conducted in five urban informal
settlements
in
Nairobi (Kibera, Mukuru, Mathare, Korogocho and Kawangware).
D
ata
was
collected
through interviews with
398 women small scale traders (WSSTs),
eight
focus group
discussion
s
a
n
d
34
key informant interviews. Results showed that
only
28.4%
WSSTs had
enrolled in
formal
medical insurance
schemes such as the National Hospital Insurance Fund
(NHIF)
and
other private medical
schemes
.
This low enrolment meant that m
ost
WSSTs
relied on them
selves and informal systems to meet their health needs. Despite this, the
WSSTs
were
willing to join
formal health
insurance
schemes
if they were informed about
the
m and if
the service
providers
agreed to
go to the informal settlements to enrol them
and
collect contributions. The paper concludes that the constitutional right
to health
can be
achieved if
there is
strategic focus on
population
groups
in informal settlements
. Mechanisms
for working with informal sector workers and other marginalised gro
ups should be develope
d
to enhance
inclusiveness.
URI
https://profiles.uonbi.ac.ke/anne_kamau/files/anne_kamau_humbolt_conf._abstract.pdfhttp://hdl.handle.net/11295/100736
Citation
A K, P K, D M, H B, J N'u. "Devolution and Healthcare services provision for women small scale traders in informal settlements in Nairobi Kenya.". In: Humbolt Kolleg 2016. Naivasha, Kenya; 2016.Publisher
University of Nairobi
Subject
Devolution, Health care s ervices, Women s mall s cale t rader, Informal settlements , KenyaRights
Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 United StatesUsage Rights
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/us/Collections
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