The majority of Kenyans cannot access quality health care services due to the high cost of the services. In recognising this critical need, the constitution 2010 tasked the government of kenya with a responsibility of ensuring accessibility to quality and affordable comprehensive healthcare.

The National Hospital Insurance Fund (NHIF) is the primary provider of health insurance in Kenya, with a mandate to enable all Kenyans to access quality and affordable health services. 

While we commend the efforts, we strongly believes that there are gaps that still limit these rights to  access to comprehensive health care. Dental health care is a critical aspect of healthcare, with low-income earners in Kenya consuming foods that are high in acids and susceptible to poor hygiene, the rate of dental-related diseases becomes alarmingly high in the country. Unfortunately NHIF only covers Dental health care treatment for Kenyans subscribers on a comprehensive package. The regular Kenya who are on the National cover and are the majority have no access to dental care treatment through NHIF cover. 

These Kenyans are advised to seek the services from the government facilities which in  most cases are under-resourced and highly congested forcing them to dig deeper into their pockets to access the treatment from private facilities. 

With more than 10 million low-income Kenyans paying 500 Kenyan shillings to access medical care through the NHIF Cover policy, it becomes an economic injustice when such a huge population is denied dental health care. This petition is therefore calls the Ministry of health, the parliamentary committee on health and the NHIF board to include Dental health care on the National cover.

Sign this petition to join Kenyans to seek equity in access to comprehensive healthcare services.