Kenya has been ranked as having the second-best healthcare system in Africa by Numbeo - the world’s largest cost of living database.

Numbeo, a crowd-sourced global database of quality-of-life data, revealed that only South Africa beat Kenya in terms of quality health care offered to citizens. 

Noteworthy, Kenya was the only East African nation in the top 7 countries in Africa offering quality healthcare. 

Kenya scored 61.1 in Health Care Index which was bettered by South Africa at 64.0.

“Health Care Index is an estimation that evaluates the overall quality of the healthcare system, including factors such as healthcare professionals, equipment, staff, doctors, and costs,” Numbeo explains.

The Health Care Index is crucial as it provides an assessment of the healthcare infrastructure, services, and resources available in a specific location.

Apart from the Health Care Index, Numbeo further uses the Health Care Exp Index which looks at the quality of a healthcare system by emphasising the positive aspects.

In the Health Care Exp Index, Kenya scored an impressive 108.3 but was again bettered by South Africa at 115.3.

Other countries that featured in the top seven included Tunisia, Algeria, Nigeria, Egypt and Morocco. 

Only South Africa and Kenya had a Health Care Index of above 60 with Tunisia and Algeria scoring 57.0 and 54.7 respectively. 

Nigeria, Egypt and Morocco were all under 50 on the Health Care Index at 48.7, 47.5 and 44.7 respectively. 

The ranking comes at a time when President William Ruto’s administration is seeking to improve the healthcare system through the rollout of the Social Health Insurance Fund (SHIF). 

Once fully implemented, Kenya will join an elite club dominated by developed nations which offer universal health coverage to its citizens.