The COVID-19 pandemic has pushed an additional two million Kenyans into poverty. Health shocks are particularly devastating for low-income households, most of which lack access to insurance and hardly save towards such eventualities due to a myriad of competing daily priorities.

The earning population in Kenya has risen by May 2021 from a low point in June 2020; but median income has gone down reflecting pressure on the wider economy. Check out the latest wave of the FSD Kenya COVID 19 Tracker to find out more…

In 2019, FSD Kenya and Turaco – a Kenyan microinsurtech startup providing simple, low-cost health and life insurance products to emerging market consumers – collaborated on a three-month pilot project in with a leading digital lender in Kenya. The study found that 80% of respondents were most interested in an in-patient cover to cushion the cost of hospital admissions, saying getting such insurance for free is incentive enough to repay their loans on time. Almost 50% of the treatment group opted in to having insurance payments added to their future loans, citing the idea of low-cost insurance from a financial service provider they know and trust as a key incentive.

The KHHEUS is a national household survey that explores health seeking behavior, the utilization of health services, health spending, and health insurance coverage amongst Kenyan households.