Social Health Authority CEO Mercy Mwangangi speaking during the National Health Summit at KICC on August 18, 2026 / ScreengrabAt least 32.3 million Kenyans have registered with the Social Health Authority (SHA), CEO Mercy Mwangangi has said.
Mwangangi said the figure was nearly double the highest registration recorded under the former National Hospital Insurance Fund (NHIF), which stood at 16.9 million.
She made the remarks during a presentation at the National Health Summit, where she outlined SHA’s progress two years after its establishment, describing the reforms as being measured in lives.
The number of health facilities accessible to SHA members has also increased from 8,667 during the NHIF period to 10,713.
Of these, Mwangangi said 5,959 are government facilities, 4,534 are private facilities, while 541 are run by faith-based organisations.
She said SHA has facilitated 501,839 surgeries in two years, compared with 227,741 surgeries recorded during a comparable two-year period under NHIF.
In renal care, the number of beneficiaries increased from 8,831 under NHIF to 20,952 under SHA, according to Mwangangi.
She said SHA has also covered about 50,000 cancer patients, compared with 29,473 under NHIF.
On critical care, Mwangangi said NHIF did not cover ICU services, while SHA has so far paid for ICU care for 28,031 beneficiaries.
She also reported that 9.3 million Kenyans have benefited from primary healthcare services under SHA, representing an increase of about 27 per cent compared with the NHIF period.
For maternity care, Mwangangi said SHA has paid for deliveries for 1.3 million mothers, with Sh17 billion paid for the services over the period.
She said SHA has paid out Sh178.5 billion across its various funds.
The Social Health Insurance Fund accounted for Sh134 billion, Primary Healthcare received Sh23 billion, the Public Officers Medical Scheme received Sh16.9 billion, while the Emergency, Chronic and Critical Illness Fund received Sh3.5 billion.
Mwangangi also highlighted the recently launched ambulance dispatch centre, saying it had received 18,534 calls in two weeks and dispatched ambulances to 506 incidents since its launch.
She said the increase in facilities and beneficiaries reflected efforts to bring healthcare services closer to Kenyans.
President William Ruto is presiding over the National Health Summit, scheduled for August 18 and 19, 2026, at the Kenyatta International Convention Centre (KICC) in Nairobi.
The summit is being held under the theme “Reform Delivered, Health as a Right” and will take stock of the Government’s health reforms under the Bottom-Up Economic Transformation Agenda (BETA).
Key areas expected to feature include digital health transformation, improved efficiency at KEMSA, expansion of specialised services, and the onboarding of more than 31 million Kenyans onto the Social Health Authority (SHA).
The summit will also focus on Primary Healthcare, maternal and newborn health, and the role of Community Health Promoters in bringing services closer to households.
