Kenya’s second National Health Sector Strategic Plan (NHSSP II – 2005–2010) defined a new approach to the way the sector will deliver health care services to Kenyans – the Kenya Essential Package for Health (KEPH).
KEPH introduced six life-cycle cohorts and six service delivery levels. One of the key innovations of KEPH is the recognition and introduction of level 1 services, which are aimed at empowering Kenyan households and communities to take charge of improving their own health.
The strategy sets an ambitious target of reaching 16 million Kenyans (3.2 million households) in the next four years.
It envisages building the capacity of households not only to demand services from all providers, but to know and progressively realize their rights to equitable, good quality health care.
The strategy introduces innovative approaches for accomplishing these challenging but realizable targets. The approaches include:
Establishing a level 1 care unit to serve a local population of 5,000 people.
- Instituting a cadre of well trained Community-Owned Resource Persons (CORPs) who will each provide level 1 services to 20 households.
- Supporting every 25 CORPs with a Community Health Extension Worker.
- Ensuring that the recruitment and management of CORPs is carried out by village and facility health committees.
