President William Ruto has declared that the Social Health Authority (SHA) will raise cancer treatment benefits to Sh800,000 starting December 1, 2025, up from the current Sh550,000. The move aims to protect households from the high costs of chronic illness and ensure patients receive proper care without facing financial strain.
Addressing Parliament during his State of the Nation Address on Thursday, Ruto said the upgrade is part of the government’s wider drive to transform Kenya’s healthcare system, guided by equity, innovation, and the conviction that all Kenyans, “wherever they live and whatever their means, deserve equal care.”
The President highlighted that 27 million Kenyans are now registered under SHA, more than three times the number previously reached by the National Health Insurance Fund (NHIF).
“This is a demonstration that leaving no one behind was and is not a slogan. It is a promise on course to fulfillment,” he said. Over 10,000 facilities across all counties have been accredited, widening access to healthcare.
Ruto stressed that effective health services start long before hospital visits. He spotlighted the deployment of 107,000 community health promoters in September 2023, the largest primary healthcare workforce ever in Kenya.
These promoters have visited 8.9 million households, conducted 9.9 million diabetes screenings identifying 134,000 cases, and carried out 6.5 million hypertension screenings that confirmed 305,000 cases.
He described them as the “quiet, devoted, tireless heroes of this new era.”
Defending the government’s Universal Health Coverage pledge, Ruto noted critics had questioned support for those unable to pay premiums.
“Today we are paying premiums for 2.3 million vulnerable Kenyans, including orphans, widows, the elderly and those without income, because for them, healthcare is not a privilege,” he said, while acknowledging parliamentarians who have assisted in supporting these groups.
The President also highlighted modernisation of hospital equipment through the National Equipment Service Project, replacing the old MES system that burdened counties with high upfront costs.
Under the new fee-for-service arrangement, private partners install, maintain, and operate modern equipment while public hospitals pay only when they use it. He noted that the government has improved medicine availability from 48 per cent to 68 per cent, aiming for 100 per cent by March next year.
Ruto said these reforms are more than healthcare upgrades; they represent a long-awaited promise anchored in Kenya’s constitutional principles of dignity and equity. “With the enhanced cancer cover and continued strengthening of UHC, we are building a Kenya where every citizen can face tomorrow with confidence, knowing their nation will stand with them in their hour of need,” he said.
Following the Social Health Insurance Act, 2023, the official shift from NHIF to SHA took effect on October 1, 2024. The President has led a nationwide SHA registration drive through *147# and the authority’s online platform, describing it as a “people-centred” initiative designed to remove financial barriers to healthcare.
