NAIROBI, Kenya — The Ministry of Health has unveiled a multi-sectoral reform initiative aimed at overhauling health workforce training, in a bid to improve service delivery and safeguard quality care under Universal Health Coverage (UHC).
Health Cabinet Secretary Aden Duale, alongside his Education counterpart Julius Ogamba, on Wednesday inaugurated a Multi-Sectoral Technical Working Group (TWG) to spearhead the reforms.
The initiative follows high-level consultations between the health and education sectors and is anchored on Article 43(1)(a) of the Constitution of Kenya, 2010, which guarantees every citizen the right to the highest attainable standard of health.
Duale emphasised that a competent and ethically grounded workforce is critical to achieving UHC, noting that training gaps currently threaten service quality.
“A well-trained, ethically grounded, and clinically competent workforce is central to delivering quality care as we advance UHC,” he said.
The ministries identified key systemic challenges affecting training and workforce readiness, including academic programmes that are misaligned with population health needs, curricula that fall outside professional scopes of practice, and student enrolment levels that exceed available clinical training capacity.
Officials also flagged concerns over qualifications lacking regulatory recognition, warning that such gaps could compromise patient safety and limit employment opportunities for graduates.
The TWG has been tasked with developing a harmonised, competency-based training framework aligned with national health priorities.
The framework is expected to ensure that graduates are clinically prepared and responsive to Kenya’s evolving disease burden and healthcare demands.
Guided by standards from the World Health Organization, the reforms will strengthen regulation at the training level, integrate evidence-based workforce planning, and align education capacity with staffing needs across all 47 counties.
The approach seeks to link training outputs directly to service delivery requirements, a move policymakers say will enhance efficiency in the health system and improve patient outcomes.
The meeting was attended by key government officials, including Principal Secretaries Mary Muthoni, Beatrice Muganda, and Julius Bitok, as well as Director-General for Health Patrick Amoth.
Duale reaffirmed the government’s commitment to implementing the reforms, stressing that collaboration between ministries, regulators, and academic institutions would be key to success.
