The Ministry of Health and the Ministry of Education have launched a joint task force to align existing health training programmes with national priorities.
This follows a high-level strategic meeting hosted by Health Cabinet Secretary Aden Duale and attended by Education Cabinet Secretary Julius Ogamba.
Both ministries reaffirmed their commitment to competency-based, harmonised and responsive health training which is aimed at strengthening the linkage between education systems and population health needs as a key pillar in realising the constitutional right to health for every Kenyan.
According to a statement, the task force will map current training programmes against national health needs, recommend immediate reforms, and develop a clear implementation roadmap with defined milestones aimed at strengthening the country’s health workforce.
The engagement focused on ensuring that Kenya’s health training systems produce skilled human resources capable of delivering the constitutional right to the highest attainable standard of health under Article 43(1)(a), marking a significant step towards aligning training outputs with national healthcare demands.
Discussions also focused ongoing health sector reforms under the Universal Health Coverage (UHC) agenda, including the Digital Superhighway initiative, which is integrating health services nationwide to enhance service delivery and address the challenge of unqualified medical practitioners within the system.
The meeting underscored the central role of human resources for health as the backbone of sector expansion and a shared responsibility between the health and education sectors.
Participants explored sustainable strategies to support training institutions in designing and delivering programmes that reflect the country’s disease burden and service delivery priorities.
The initiative is aligned with the Government’s Bottom-Up Economic Transformation Agenda (BETA), which prioritises equitable healthcare delivery and the accelerated nationwide implementation of Universal Health Coverage.
Principal Secretaries Mary Muthoni (Public Health and Professional Standards) and Beatrice Muganda (Higher Education and Research), Director-General for Health Dr Patrick Amoth, and technical heads from both Ministries also attended the meeting.
