KENYA- On Thursday, 14th of June, “Royal Philips, a global leader in health technology, in collaboration with the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) and the Government of Mandera County (the “County”), today opened a new Community Life Centre (CLC) in the County.”
No doubt, like the CEO of the Philips Africa, Jasper Westerink puts it: “The healthcare challenges in Mandera are” alarming; and a reflection of the issues and realities faced by millions of individuals in Sub-Saharan Africa.”
It is in this light that “Mandera County Government, UNFPA and Philips deliver on their commitment to implement Kenya’s second Community Life Centre (CLC) in order to advance reproductive, maternal and” health status of “newborn” children.
Speaking on the laudable achievement, the CEO noted that the project was driven out of the need improve the delivery of the health sector in manners of advancement. According to him, as reported in a Press release submitted to the APO website: “Philips has been dedicated to advancing primary healthcare in Africa for many years, with a strong focus on mother and child care.” He further revealed that: “Through the Philips CLC platform, they have introduced a new value delivery model.” And that: their ambition is to introduce this model throughout Africa to drastically improve access to primary care.”
According to the Press release, “The Mandera CLC demonstrates that in low-resource and vulnerable settings, public-private partnerships and innovation can leapfrog primary healthcare systems,” stating that “Scalable modular concepts is part of Philips’ new business model to improve access to care and to further grow footprint in Africa.”
Meanwhile, it should be noted that, “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.” This is the more reason why this put up is laudable.
Therefore, according to the release, “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.”
Responding on the new development, Dr. Ademola Olajide, UNFPA Country Representative to Kenya, expressing excitement towards the initiative’s contributions said: “The inauguration of the CLC in Mandera is an important milestone in finding new ways for significantly advancing maternal and new-born health outcomes in the 6 counties in Kenya, which contribute close to 50% of all maternal deaths in the country. We look forward to continue learning from its operations and seeing how it will contribute to improvement in the lives and well-being in the community”.
In addition, Governor of Mandera County confirmed that the project is timely. In his remarks, he said: “Our partnership with Philips and UNFPA comes at a time when the County has a high incidence of maternal and newborn mortality resulting from preventable causes and lack of medical facilities.
“This co-operation is reflective of the kind of partnerships we seek to participate in with the private sector and the UN that results in uplifting the lives of our communities.”
Correspondent Ridwan A. Olayiwola
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