Harmonised data key to success of Kenya’s UHC

In an era of rapid technological development, Kenya’s digital health landscape should seek a cohesive and interoperable data network that functions effectively across all 47 counties.

Today, information breakdown is common. A patient treated for a condition in Kisumu may seek care in another county without access to their medical records, such as laboratory results, surgical notes, medication history, allergies, imaging reports, or follow-up plans.

In such situations, clinicians are forced to make critical decisions with incomplete information, compromising quality of care, patient safety, disease surveillance, and the broader promise of UHC.

The result is often a restart of care in that tests are repeated, diagnoses delayed, and treatment plans improvised. Clinical data can be lost along the way, which can negatively impact treatment modalities and outcomes.

Seamless information sharing across the healthcare space is vital and not a convenience. It ensures appropriate clinical decisions are made, which facilitates high-quality continuity of care that sits at the core of effective and safe healthcare delivery.

The UHC means that all people have access to the full range of quality health services they need, when and where they need them, without financial hardship.

When patient data does not follow the patient, providers can make avoidable or repetitive clinical decisions, driving up costs for households and the health system alike. Where data remains in silos rather than connected networks, UHC becomes fragmented rather than coordinated.

Beyond individual care, health data is essential for disease surveillance outbreaks, forecasting pharmaceutical drug supply chains and informing health policy. With the absence of easily accessible and shareable data across healthcare networks, the above-mentioned activities are negatively impacted.

When data that is to fully inform which diseases are ravaging Kenyans is not complete, then it is difficult to map out hotspots regions and preventive actions fall short of their targets. The same data missing at the bedside is the data needed for outbreak detection.

Epidemiology on diseases such as stroke and cancer has a paucity of data, which translates to inadequate mapping, missed signals and delayed action.

Drug consumption data serves to inform pharmaceutical services on the drugs volumes that are necessary for the vital, essential and non-essential groups. With proper supply chain forecasting drugs will be available in the healthcare facilities ensuring optimal health. When there is inadequate drug consumption data, missed early warning, drug stock-outs, and delayed response ensue.

Whereas there is continuous digitisation of healthcare services, the many existing healthcare information management systems are fragmented. These digital tools fail to achieve communication across counties or different levels of care resulting in diminished meaningful value.

Kenya’s challenge is, therefore, not the absence of data, but the lack of interoperable, clinically useful data systems designed to support care delivery rather than administrative reporting alone.

If Kenya is serious about Universal Health Coverage, then medical data must move from being an afterthought to becoming a core clinical tool and a foundational part of health infrastructure.

National and county governments should reinforce an integrated digital healthcare system where data is secure, accessed timely across the continuum of care. Without this shift, even well-meaning health improvements will continue to function with little visibility in the absence of this change, diminishing their effectiveness.

Dr Jesee Gichure Munga is a Pharmacist with expertise across regulatory affairs, quality assurance, and data science, and is a member of the AfiaData community