New Guidelines Improve Emergency Response Systems

Kenya’s Ministry of Health is strengthening its emergency response capacity with several key regulatory and policy measures. The government has reasserted its commitment to bolstering disease surveillance and emergency coordination, notably backing the Kenya National Public Health Institute (KNPHI) as the lead agency in managing national health security.
Under the Emergency Medical Care (EMC) Policy 2020–2030, the Ministry is expanding infrastructure for pre-hospital and in-hospital emergency care. This includes scaling up ambulance coordination systems, establishing dispatch centers, and developing command-and-control structures for emergency response.
The Ministry is also promoting formal collaboration with the Kenya Red Cross Society to strengthen public health emergency response. This partnership will enable data sharing and establish a framework for coordinated response during outbreaks and disasters.
Moreover, Kenya has validated a Decision-Making Tool for Public Health Emergencies (DMT-PHE), developed by KNPHI with technical support from global partners. The tool provides standardized escalation pathways and decision thresholds—aligned with the country’s 7-1-7 response model—to ensure timely and evidence-based public health actions during crises.