The Ministry of Health has said 18, 243, 251 Kenyans have registered under the new Social Health Authority (SHA) scheme.
The ministry said that 4.6 million Kenyans transitioned from the National Health Insurance Fund (NHIF) to SHA and need to update their profiles.
In a statement on Wednesday, the ministry said weekend registrations are lower due to reliance on health service visits for registration.
The ministry further said the Health Information Exchange had been fully deployed as of December 2024.
The system allows seamless sharing of patient records across health facilities, improving efficiency and continuity of care under the Universal Health Coverage (UHC) program.
It Includes Client Registry, Health Care Provider Registry, and Health Facility Registry.
The ministry said that 2.5 million people have undergone means testing with Community Heath Promoters assisting with SHA registration.
"We stress the critical need for principal beneficiaries to register their dependents to ensure full family coverage under SHA. Efforts are being intensified through CHPs and community engagement programs to raise awareness and encourage timely action," the statement read.
"Currently, a significant gap remains, as many dependents are only
registered when they seek care at a facility. This practice leads to
unnecessary delays, and we urge beneficiaries to update dependents proactively
to streamline access to healthcare services."
MoH said enrolled facilities are 8, 722 (54 per cent of active facilities).
Kenya transitioned from NHIF to the Social Health Insurance Fund (SHIF) to establish a more inclusive UHC structure.
SHIF is a comprehensive public health insurance service established by the Social Health Insurance Act of 2023.
The programme, launched in October 2024 under SHA transitioned almost all Kenyans from the defunct NHIF to SHIF.
Unlike the NHIF, which primarily targeted the formal sector and employed individuals, SHIF aims to provide health insurance for every citizen, including those in the informal sector and vulnerable groups who have been historically underserved.
SHIF introduced a tiered contribution system that factors in the income levels of contributors.
Every Kenyan is required to register as a member of SHIF and also any person who is not a Kenyan but ordinarily resides in Kenya for more than 12 months and any child born after the commencement of the Social Health Insurance Act, No. 16 of 2023.
To access public services from the national and county government or related entities, a registered person must demonstrate that they have complied with registration and contribution requirements.
In both SHIF and NHIF, the beneficiaries are the contributors, spouses of the contributors, those who have not attained the age of 21 years with no income of their own and living with the contributor, those who have not attained the age of 25 years and are undergoing a full-time course of education at a university or college and people who are living with disability and are wholly dependent on and living with the contributor.
