Royal Philips, a global leader in health technology, in collaboration with the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) and the Government of Mandera County, today opened a new Community Life Centre (CLC) in the County.
The new primary care and community hub is part of Philips’ ongoing commitment to improve access to quality primary healthcare and to decrease maternal and infant mortality rates – a huge challenge across sub-Saharan Africa. The CLC is a scalable, self-sufficient concept for primary healthcare delivery that Philips is pioneering in Africa, and which it aims to introduce across the continent.
In Sub-Saharan Africa, four in ten people have no access to health facilities or personnel, and for those that do have access, the quality of services is often low. The need for primary healthcare in the County is unparalleled; it is a hard to reach, unsecure and an arid part of North-Eastern Kenya, with one of the world’s highest maternal mortality ratios amounting to 3,795 per 100,000 live births
The newly inaugurated CLC, at Dandu Ward of the County, is an important milestone for partners under the Private Sector Heath Partnership Kenya and will provide the community with modern, integrated quality health services for mother and child care, diagnosis and treatment of communicable diseases, and general health services.
At the same time, it will offer the community clean energy supply, employment opportunities, and going forward, the potential to develop commercial activities, and a secure social activity hub within reach of over 40,000 (forty thousand) people.
“The healthcare challenges in Mandera are hugely concerning; and they are a reflection of the issues and realities faced by millions of individuals in Sub-Saharan Africa,” said Jasper Westerink, CEO of Philips Africa. “Philips has been dedicated to advancing primary healthcare in Africa for many years, with a strong focus on mother and child care. Through the Philips CLC platform, we have introduced a new value delivery model. Our ambition is to introduce this model throughout Africa to drastically improve access to primary care.”
The issues facing primary care in Africa are complicated and multifaceted and in order to create sustainable improvement, addressing a wide range of issues collectively is needed.
Challenges include a lack of qualified healthcare workers, non-operability of available medical equipment, lack of electricity, water and basic healthcare technology, sustainability, and a lack of reliable data.
The project, which supports the drive for universal health coverage by 2030 as set out in the UN Sustainable Development Goal 3, also includes a building refurbishment program, accompanied with new furniture installation and capacity strengthening for all aspects of care, including clinical, application and technical training. This will ultimately strengthen the County’s community and primary healthcare system, improving both preventive and curative healthcare as well as social and economic development.
