How to Add Dependants to SHA in Kenya: Spouse, Children and Newborns

Families change all the time, with a wedding, a new baby or a child heading off toUniversity or college, and your health cover has to change with them.

SHA's website says you can list your spouse and children when you first register with the Social Health Authority (SHA), and add them later by submitting the right documents.

For a spouse, it names a marriage certificate or sworn affidavit with a copy of the spouse's ID, and for a baby it asks you to notify SHA within 14 days of the birth with a birth notification or certificate.

SHA calls dependants beneficiaries, and this guide follows your family through its stages, from a spouse to a newborn to a child turning 18.

The rules come from SHA's website, the Social Health Insurance Regulations, 2024, as amended in February 2025, and SHA's 2026 guidance, with dates given where they matter.

Who counts as family on SHA?

Living in your household does not by itself make someone a beneficiary, so it helps to know who counts.

The regulations say a beneficiary can be your spouse, a person under 21 who has no income of their own and lives with you, a person under 25 who is studying full time or training for a trade or profession and has no income apart from a scholarship or bursary, or a person with a disability who is wholly dependent on you and lives with you.

SHA says there is no limit on the number of children you can register.

A person with a disability is added with their ID and a certificate of registration from the National Council for Persons with Disabilities.

How to add a dependant

You can add family members online or at an SHA office, and the right step depends on whether you have registered yet.

SHA representative Gilbert Osoro explained that when you register, the SHA portal has a section for adding dependants, where you click Add Dependent, choose spouse or child, and register them.

If you are already registered, you log in, upload the documents and update your dependants' details.

For help in person, SHA branches and Huduma Centres are registration points under the regulations.

The regulations use the registration form, Form 1, to declare or change beneficiaries, and SHA lists its Application for Registration Form on its website under SHA Forms.

Osoro said the biggest challenge was that many members registered but never logged in to update their details, which is why some patients are told at the hospital that they are not registered.

Adding your spouse

Adding a spouse is one of the most common changes, and it starts with your spouse being registered themselves.

Osoro said a spouse must first register independently, because registration is based on households.

On the portal, as described in December 2024, you enter your spouse's national ID number and first name, and a one time password, a short code, goes to your spouse's registered phone.

Your spouse enters it to confirm whether they are a contributor or a dependant, and you submit.

For documents, SHA's website says to submit a marriage certificate or sworn affidavit with a copy of your spouse's ID.

When you add a spouse after you have registered, the regulations say they can use your cover within 14 days of the change, as long as your contributions meet the Act's requirements.

Registering a newborn

A new baby brings joy and paperwork together, and SHA asks you to act within 14 days.

SHA's website says to notify it within 14 days of the birth and provide a birth notification or certificate.

The regulations, as amended in February 2025, ask a parent or guardian to apply for the baby's registration within 14 days of the birth, when notifying the birth to the registrar of births, and to include the baby's birth notification.

SHA then registers the child and gives them a minor SHA number.

SHA's July 2026 guidance adds that for a baby below six months, parents provide a birth notification or birth certificate with a passport size photograph.

Children who are adopted or in your care

Children join families in different ways, and SHA has a document for each.

For an adopted child, you provide the adoption order.

For a child you care for in place of a parent, you provide a will, deed, court order or another document recognised under the Children Act.

In a notice on 16 July 2026, SHA set the minimum documents hospitals must verify for claims involving children in alternative care.

Adopted children need a certified adoption order, guardianship needs a deed of will appointing the guardian or a certified court guardianship order, and kinship care needs a custody order or a confirmation letter from a Children's Officer.

The notice also lists documents for foster care and other arrangements.

These are the documents hospitals must verify when claims are made, so they are a useful guide to what to keep ready for a child in your care.

Can your child stay on your cover after 18?

Yes, in many cases, because turning 18 does not automatically end a child's cover, SHA said in July 2026.

Within 90 days of turning 18, the regulations require the young person to apply, using Form 1, to update their registration as a contributor in a household of their own, and SHA then issues a new SHA number.

A young person can still stay under your cover if they are under 21 with no income and living with you, or under 25 and in full time education or training with no income apart from a scholarship or bursary.

SHA's July guidance, which speaks of students over 18 but under 21, says a student must first be registered as an SHA member, and then a parent or guardian adds them by submitting a document confirming enrolment in a school, college or other institution.

If the update is not made after 90 days, SHA suspends the minor SHA number.

If your family changes

Life does not stand still, and your cover can change with it.

To change your declared beneficiaries, you submit a filled Form 1 with the right document.

For a new spouse, that is their ID, proof of marriage and, where it applies, a court order removing the spouse previously listed.

For a divorce it is a decree absolute, for a death a death certificate or a court decree presuming death, and for an annulment a decree of annulment.

After a divorce or annulment, the former spouse stops using your cover 14 days after the change or when the cover expires, whichever is later.

When a beneficiary dies, the household must notify SHA with the death certificate. If the person who paid the contributions has died, the other beneficiaries keep their benefits until the period already paid for ends.

You must also tell SHA within 30 days of any change or error in a child's information.

At the hospital: what each family member shows

When your family goes for care, each person proves who they are in a set way, and knowing it saves time at the desk.

Under the regulations, a spouse shows their own ID, and staff use your ID number together with the spouse's biometrics, which means a physical identifier such as a fingerprint.

A child below seven is identified with your ID and either your biometrics as the parent or guardian or a one time password sent to you.

From age seven, the child's own biometrics are used with your ID number, which is why a parent presents the child at a registration point at seven to have them captured.

Wherever biometrics are not available, a one time password is used instead.

Keeping your family's documents together, such as IDs, birth certificates and your marriage certificate, makes each of these steps smoother.