Intersectoral collaboration serves as a tool to enhance efficiency by compensating for potential deficiencies in expertise, skills, and competencies within a department through resources from other sectors. In Kenya, there is limited research on intersectoral collaboration within the healthcare system. This study investigates the potential of intersectoral collaboration in maternal healthcare and strategies for leveraging such collaboration to advance universal health coverage (UHC) in Kenya. Free maternity services (FMSs) represent a key primary healthcare initiative driving the country towards UHC. Despite the pivotal role of UHC in shaping contemporary health policy, numerous challenges remain before its objectives can be fully realized. Additionally, competing priorities in health systems require complex, value-laden, and politically sensitive decisions regarding which health interventions and investments to prioritize. Consequently, this study aims to explore the perspectives of health facility administrators on whether intersectoral collaboration can facilitate the achievement of UHC in Kenya. The study focused on Kilifi County, Kenya, and draws on qualitative research conducted between March and July 2016, January to July 2017, and follow-up interviews during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020–2021. Data were analyzed thematically. Findings suggest that the expanded free maternity services program, Linda Mama, represents a viable pathway to UHC. Participants emphasized the importance of equitable stakeholder representation, distributed leadership, and local participation, highlighting bargaining power as a critical factor in enhancing UHC through intersectoral collaboration under the Linda Mama program. These strategies require a bottom-up approach to foster accountability, ownership, and trust, all of which are crucial for achieving UHC.
