TY - JOUR T1 - Institutionalizing Community Health Services in Kenya: A Policy and Practice Journey JF - Global Health: Science and Practice JO - GLOB HEALTH SCI PRACT SP - S25 LP - S31 DO - 10.9745/GHSP-D-20-00430 VL - 9 IS - Supplement 1 AU - Salim Hussein AU - Lilian Otiso AU - Maureen Kimani AU - Agatha Olago AU - John Wanyungu AU - Daniel Kavoo AU - Rose Njiraini AU - Sila Kimanzi AU - Robinson Karuga Y1 - 2021/03/15 UR - http://www.ghspjournal.org/content/9/Supplement_1/S25.abstract N2 - Key MessagesInstitutionalizing community health services is a long journey that involves developing relevant policy documents that align with national and global priorities and have the support of political stakeholders.A legal framework and continuous engagement with leaders of subnational units is important to ensure standardization, institutionalization, and financing of policies.Policy should be informed by evidence generated from within the country to understand what is working well and address challenges that may limit implementation.Engage multiple stakeholders to use a multisectoral approach and to harness their various strengths to support policy development.Kenya has made tremendous progress in institutionalizing community health services at the policy and practice level. The last 5 years have been particularly instrumental as this period also coincided with key changes globally and in Kenya. Globally, the push for universal health coverage (UHC) since the United Nations declaration of 20121 and the refocus on primary health care (PHC) from the Alma Ata declaration of 19782 and the Astana declaration of 20183 has been instrumental in informing Kenya's more recent policy priorities as the country signed onto them.In 2017, the Kenyan President made UHC a priority as part of the Big Four Agenda for development4,5 to ensure all Kenyans could access the services they required without experiencing financial hardship. This progress would not have been possible without strong government leadership and a strong partnership and engagement with devolved subnational governments, referred to as counties and other stakeholders.In Kenya, community health volunteers (CHVs) are key for delivery of PHC services and UHC. This cadre of lay health workers gained prominence after the Alma Ata Declaration of 1978.2 In response to declining health indicators from the 1990s, Kenya's Ministry of Health (MOH) first launched the Community Health Strategic Plan in 2006 (Figure … ER -