Celebrating the SHA 922 Lifeline, the National Ambulance Dispatch Centre and the Emergency Evacuation Benefit under ECCIF
922 gives a decade-old dream a number. It also opens the next phase: turning national access into timely, coordinated and high-quality emergency medical care in every county.
A national milestone for emergency medical care
On 5 August 2026, Kenya achieved a milestone that had once seemed almost impossible: the Government of Kenya officially launched the SHA 922 Lifeline and the National Ambulance Dispatch Centre, creating a single national access point intended to coordinate emergency medical response across all 47 counties.
Through 922, anyone facing a medical emergency can call toll-free and be connected to a coordinated pathway of care. A trained dispatcher confirms the caller’s location, assesses the urgency of the emergency, provides lifesaving guidance, coordinates the dispatch of an appropriate available ambulance and facilitates transport to the nearest emergency care centre.
Crucially, 922 also connects emergency access with financial protection. Through the Emergency, Chronic and Critical Illness Fund (ECCIF), the approved benefit package includes emergency evacuation and up to 24 hours of emergency stabilisation for anyone in Kenya.
The dream that started EMKF
In 2015, emergency medical care was not yet embedded as a coordinated national priority. Hospitals existed, but few had dedicated, properly equipped emergency departments. Ambulances were often understaffed and poorly equipped, operating mainly as transfer vehicles between hospitals rather than responding to emergencies in homes and communities. Committed healthcare workers did their best, despite having received little formal training in emergency medical care.
There was no coordinated system connecting the moment an emergency was recognised to a number people could call, an ambulance that could respond and a healthcare facility ready to provide lifesaving care. Families had to find transport, navigate referrals and raise money while critical time slipped away. Too many people died, not because lifesaving treatment did not exist, but because the system could not deliver it in time or because families could not afford to access it.
We established the Emergency Medicine Kenya Foundation in 2015 because these deaths were neither inevitable nor acceptable. We believed Kenya could build a coordinated emergency healthcare system within its national and county health structures—not as a parallel service, but as a public system designed to endure. We embraced what then seemed an impossible ambition: creating Kenya’s first “911 system.” The dream was distant, but the crisis was immediate. Emergencies were happening every day, people were dying and waiting was not an option.
Significant Milestones
2017: Putting emergency care into law
EMKF supported stronger recognition of emergency medical care in the Health Act 2017, translating the constitutional right to emergency medical treatment into law and an implementation agenda.
2018: Project 47 – Taking the vision to every county
Because healthcare delivery in Kenya is devolved, the national vision could only become real through county-owned systems. In 2018, EMKF created Project 47 as a practical blueprint for developing emergency healthcare systems across all 47 counties.
It defined the role and requirements of emergency care centres and established a common framework through which counties could assess gaps, organise services and strengthen facilities, workforce, ambulance response and referral pathways, while adapting implementation to their local context and aligning with national standards.
2018 – 2021: Turning the blueprint into practice
EMKF worked alongside county governments to map and strengthen emergency care centres, train frontline healthcare workers, provide essential equipment and establish the clinical and operational processes required to deliver lifesaving care. This laid the foundation for these centres to mature into functional public emergency departments while generating the evidence and experience needed to guide national reform.
2021: From Project 47 to national policy
The blueprint, experience and evidence generated through Project 47 provided a practical foundation for national reform. EMKF aligned this locally developed model with the World Health Organization’s Emergency Care System Framework and supported the Ministry of Health in developing the Kenya Emergency Medical Care Policy 2020–2030 and the Kenya Emergency Medical Care Strategy 2020–2025. Together, these established a coordinated national framework for prehospital care, emergency departments, workforce development, quality improvement, financing, data and governance.
2021 – 2023: From national policy to county-owned systems
With the national framework in place, EMKF worked with county governments to adapt the policy to their local realities and develop locally owned County Emergency Medical Care Plans. These plans defined how prehospital services, emergency departments, workforce development, quality improvement, financing, data and governance would operate as one coordinated county system. By advancing policy while continuing the practical work of mapping and strengthening emergency care centres, EMKF helped ensure that the national framework did not remain on paper but began taking root in county systems, health facilities and frontline practice.
2023: Ambulensi – Connecting communities to care
As county systems developed, one critical gap became impossible to ignore: communities still struggled to get help during emergencies. For most people, there was no centrally coordinated public ambulance service they could reach with a single phone call. To close this gap, EMKF launched Ambulensi in 2023—an end-to-end solution that enables governments to connect centralised dispatch, GPS-enabled ambulances, trained response teams, emergency care centres and communities within one coordinated public ambulance system, helping patients reach the right care when every minute matters.
2024: Emergency care financing is operationalised
With the necessary systems taking shape, a national financing mechanism was essential. Drawing on its operational experience and research, EMKF contributed to the development of the emergency care guidelines underpinning ECCIF, including the Emergency Evacuation Benefit. This helped connect timely access to emergency medical care with financial protection for patients while establishing a national financing mechanism for emergency healthcare services.
2023 – 2026: Accelerating system-wide implementation
Working with county governments, EMKF expanded efforts to strengthen emergency care centres, supported the development and adoption of county emergency medical care policies and plans, and advanced the rollout of Ambulensi to establish coordinated county public ambulance systems. Together, these efforts advanced Kenya’s transition towards an integrated emergency healthcare system, strengthening access to timely, lifesaving care.
In 2025, EMKF provided technical assistance to SHA in designing and preparing to operationalise the National Ambulance Dispatch Centre as a national coordination hub for ambulance dispatch and emergency evacuation services.
This work culminated on 5 August 2026 with the official launch of the SHA 922 Lifeline and the National Ambulance Dispatch Centre.
The next phase: national scale and system integration
922 is the national front door—but a phone call alone cannot save a life. Its impact depends on the strength of the entire system behind it: rapid recognition and triage, reliable dispatch, available and equipped ambulances, trained response teams, effective prehospital care, and emergency care centres ready to receive, stabilise and treat patients. National coordination must therefore be matched by strong county systems capable of delivering timely, high-quality emergency care from the point of first contact to definitive care.
This is EMKF’s National Scaling and System Integration phase. At scale, government ownership of delivery and financing is essential. EMKF will continue to provide technical leadership, support adoption, strengthen system integration, and help the emergency healthcare system learn and improve.
A milestone made possible by partnership
The launch of 922 shows what sustained, catalytic investment in systems change can achieve. Donor and partner support helped turn a once-improbable national ambition into government-owned public infrastructure designed to endure and save lives.
We recognise the leadership of the Government of Kenya, the Ministry of Health and SHA; the ownership of the Council of Governors and all 47 county governments; and the contribution of dispatchers, ambulance teams, clinicians, first responders, health managers, regulators, researchers and community leaders.
The next decade begins now
In 2015, Kenya’s equivalent of a 911 system felt like a distant dream. On 5 August 2026, it was given a number: 922.
The foundations are in place. The task now is to make the system work for every patient, in every county.
