The Influence of Socio-Cultural Factors in Access to Healthcare in Kenya: A Case of Nairobi County, Kenya

The study examined factors that determine access to healthcare among the households in Nairobi County. The problem of concern in this study was that access to healthcare challenges have persisted despite expansion in healthcare system in Nairobi County. Access to public healthcare in Nairobi County is unequal among social classes. Lower social classes have worse healthcare than either the upper or the middle classes. The study sought to find out why the disparity in access to healthcare in Nairobi County persists despite government efforts to address the issue. The study employed a qualitative design. The households living in Nairobi County provided the frame in which the population sample was drawn using multistage cluster random sampling to arrive at a sample size of 1066. Qualitative data was collected using observations, focus group discussions and in-depth interviews. Content analysis was used to analyze qualitative data. The results confirms robust positive correlations between independent intervening variables (explanatory variables: socio-cultural variables) and dependent variables (access to public healthcare). The independent intervening variables had significant influences on access to public healthcare. The P-value was statistically significant. The results were not due to random chance and that P- 0.01< 0.05 confirms a positive relationships between the variables. The study objective and question were achieved. The hypotheses were disconfirmed.