Abstract

The strength and health of a nation’s economy strongly lies on the stability and quality of the said nation’s healthcare. Developed and developing nations alike need to focus on the variables of healthcare like life expectancy, death rate and compare how these variables affect economic productivity. Countries spend a huge portion of their budgets to finance healthcare and healthcare infrastructure. The government’s ability to effectively finance and expand health services is mostly determined by the state of the country’s economy.

Kenya is a developing nation in the East coast of Africa. As of 2012, the country had a GDP of $37.2 billion and a population of 43.1 million people. As a developing nation, the country has been trying to make strides and grow in the different sectors of the economy; healthcare is one of these sectors that have been growing. This research focuses on the methods used by the government of Kenya to finance healthcare and the impact of the government’s financing on health and healthcare systems since Kenya achieved independence in 1963, the Kenyan government made universal healthcare one of its main goals.