Principal Secretary for Public Health Mary Muthoni says digitisation has revolutionised Kenya’s health system, with more than 107,000 community health promoters now capturing real-time household data across all 47 counties to improve prevention, referrals, and accountability.
Speaking in an interview on Radio Generation, Muthoni said community health promoters—once burdened with heavy paper registers—are now fully digitised and legally entrenched as the foundation of the health system.
“These are people who used to move from household to household carrying very heavy books,” she said, adding that each promoter is assigned about 100 households, serving roughly 500 people at community level.
She explained that digitisation has enabled the Ministry to receive daily, real-time data on pregnancies, births, vaccinations, diabetes screening, malnutrition, and common childhood illnesses.
“If I open my computer in the morning, I get all that happened yesterday from all 47 counties,” Muthoni said, noting that the system also tracks referrals to health facilities for further care, including antenatal services.
According to the PS, community health promoters form Level One of care—a “moving facility” that connects patients to Level Two facilities staffed by skilled workers such as nurses and clinical officers. This digital referral system, she said, is designed to stop unnecessary congestion at referral hospitals.
“You don’t move from the village straight to Kenyatta to see a cardiologist for flu,” she said. “Treatment must start from the lowest level, and only be escalated when necessary.”
Muthoni said digitisation now extends beyond patients to healthcare workers and facilities. The Ministry can track licensed practitioners, surgeries, and facility activity in real time.
“If you’re not in your facility, you cannot give your OTP in Mandera when you’re in Nairobi,” she said, adding that this has improved professional accountability.
Facility capacity is also monitored digitally, allowing authorities to see available beds across the country and redirect patients when major hospitals are full.
“Every facility has bed capacity, so why should people sleep on the floor?” she posed.
The PS further pointed to health facility committees as a key pillar of accountability under the new system. These committees—made up of community, faith-based, youth, and women representatives—oversee budgets, drugs, and service delivery.
“The community now has the power to question what is being done in the facility near them,” she said.
Muthoni stressed that under Universal Health Coverage and the Social Health Authority, primary healthcare is meant to be end-to-end, from registration to laboratory tests and medicines.
“You are not supposed to move out of that facility without drugs,” she said, adding that digital systems now make it clear where failures occur and who is responsible.
