Do you remember the Linda Mama Program which was celebrated for how it supported deliveries for Kenyan girls and women from underserved populations with ease? We clamored for its return with the new social health plans, specifically advocating for the program to be legally recognized so that it was not removed and reinstated on a political whim.

When the second Cabinet under President Ruto sat and told us that Linda Mama would be coming back, we did not expect that it would be any different from the earlier iterations.

When an official from the SHA announces that pregnant teenagers will get some form of temporary ID under SHA so that they can make payments towards SHIF and that if they cannot pay the government will make the payments on their behalf, I am confused on various levels.

How will 15-19 year old teens pay for SHIF? They have no capacity to do so and shouldn’t this demographic automatically fall under indigent populations without having to fill in the questionnaires for the means testing tool? Is this not the social protection measure to be provided by Linda Mama? Also, have the parents been asked to weigh in on this? Is it in the best interests of the children?

Teenage pregnancies are already a tough situation to handle, without the additional hurdle of the girls having to pay for delivery. According to the KDHS 2022,15% of girls aged between 15-19 in Kenya have ever been pregnant. Just imagine these girls having to pay for their delivery.