JUNE 6, 2017 | WHO Kenya country office has  given a statement  to correct erroneous media reports that Kenya had suspended its funding to  Ministry of Health. In his statement, the WHO Kenya Country Representative, Dr Rudi Eggers said the report was incorrect and confirmed that  WHO had not suspended funding to the Ministry of Health. The erroneous report was based on an internal letter written by the Ministry of  Health  to urge counties to make returns for monies given by  the WHO for some activities including advocacy and surveillance of the Guinea Worm Disease .

The statement reads:

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WHO has not suspended funding to the Ministry of Health 

Some media outlets have reported that the World Health Organization (WHO) in Kenya has suspended funding to the Ministry of Health, based on an internal letter between the national Ministry of Health and county governments. This is incorrect: WHO has not suspended funding to the Ministry of Health. The routine, on-going WHO-to-Ministry accounting process requires that any donated funds from WHO are accounted for within a specified time period, and any unspent funds returned to WHO. 

WHO has various ways of funding activities within the country. The financial support to most Ministry of Health activities has been provided through the direct contracting of suppliers and venues, rather than the disbursement of funding to the Ministry of Health itself. This disbursement mechanism is termed “Direct Implementation”. In these cases, the accounting of funding is done by WHO itself or its agents. 

However, for large scale activities including the Guinea Worm surveillance and advocacy activities mentioned and Polio Eradication campaigns, WHO funding has been made available directly to the Ministry of Health for disbursement, again in line with the requirements of WHO financial procedures. This funding mechanism is called ”Direct Financial Contribution”, or DFC. In these cases, the Ministry of Health accounts for funds received with financial and technical reportsto WHO normally within three months of completion of the activities. In cases where activities are planned but not implemented by the Ministry of Health or remaining balances, the funds are returned to WHO. 

Since January 2016, WHO has disbursed Ksh. 1,29 billion using the DFC mechanism, mainly for the polio eradication campaigns and Guinea Worm surveillance and awareness activities. Accountability for these funds is ongoing in line with WHO financial management rules, procedures and timelines. More than 95% of these funds have either been accounted for or relate to activities that were completed recently, such as the polio eradication campaign activities in April 2017 where financial reports are still being compiled and are due in August 2017. For the remainder, including the Ksh. 11.2 million quoted in the media, the Ministry of Health has been following up with the counties involved to assure the reporting against all DFC funds is done. 

The follow-up of reporting for disbursed funds continues to be stringent, in line with WHO accounting rules and requirements. In addition, WHO has additional internal approval processes prior to releasing funds to any entity, be it the Ministry of Health, other governmental or parastatal entities or indeed private sector suppliers of goods and services. This may include the suspension of the DFC mechanism in future should the financial requirements of WHO not be met.