Health Care Access and Service Delivery in Relations to the Right to Health and Universal Health Coverage: A Case of Machakos County, Kenya (2019-2024)

This study investigated health care access and service delivery in relations to right to health and universal health coverage (UHC) in Machakos County, Kenya. The first part examines the views of both patients and health care practitioners on the state of health service delivery and the second part discusses strategies for enhancing health service delivery in Machakos County, Kenya. Descriptive cross-sectional research design was used. The target population was health professional and patients in 198 public healthcare facilities published in the Machakos County Integrated Development Plan (CIDP) 2023-2027. Yamane sampling formula was used to generate a sample of 100 healthcare facilities from the eight Sub-Counties in Machakos County. Stratified sampling formula was then used to group the health facilities according to the size of the population they serve. Purposive and convenience sampling helped in the identification of healthcare officers and patients to participate in the survey as well as to select eight Sub- County Medical Officers that were interviewed as key informants. Questionnaire and interview were used to collect primary data. Analysis of data included descriptive statistics for quantitative data narratives for qualitative data. This study observed that, all states desire their citizens to attain the right to health by achieving universal health coverage. However, due to increase in population and new emerging dynamics within the healthcare access and service delivery such as emerging new disease patterns, resource constraints, among other factors, impede the attainment of universal healthcare in Machakos County, Kenya. This study recommends for increased funding for the health sector to ensure the right to health is realized by all the citizens in Kenya.