Operational Capacity of County Governments to Plan on Performance of Devolved Health Sector in Kenya

Abstract

In Kenya, devolution of health services has resulted in the decentralization of many health services from the national government to local governments in order to improve the health of citizens. Despite political support of such a system and initiatives to increase devolution, the performance of the devolved health sector in Kenya has not improved as expected. The was meant to determine how citizen participation influence organizational performance of devolved health care sector in Kenya. The current study utilized cross-sectional research design because it involved the collection of data in 47 counties across the country and focused on several selected officials who gave information regarding governance factors influencing devolved health care sector in Kenya. Since the study utilized census sampling, the 47 county referral hospitals were targeted. Further purposive sampling was used to arrive at the 188 selected respondents who became the sample size of the study. Descriptive statistics was used to outline the fundamental characteristics regarding the collected information in the research. The study combined the elements of both quantitative and qualitative methods of data collection. The primary data was collected using questionnaires whose content was appropriate to test the hypothesis and address the research questions. Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) data analysis software package was employed to examine the quantitative data using the descriptive statistics. Analysis of Variance(ANOVA) table techniques and beta coefficient tables were utilized in the presentation of regression analysis outcomes. The findings of the study revealed that operational capacity of county governments to plan and management transparency had positive significant relationship with organizational performance of devolved health care sector. The findings suggest that there is need for the health care sector function to be devolved to the counties to allow for more citizen inclusivity in decision making, timely response to health care needs and government planning. Key words: Operational Capacity, Devolution, Health Care in Kenya