Partners for primary care

Quality, readily accessible health care is becoming an ever greater priority to governments the world over. The Kenyan government wants every Kenyan citizen to have access to affordable health care by 2030.

Ambitions of the Netherlands and Kenya

The Kenyan government plans to accomplish this goal with – among other things – the help of Dutch businesses, through the following actions:

• Establishing a nationwide health-care network;
• Improving quality;
• Promoting partnerships with the private sector;
• Granting access to people who are excluded from health care for financial or other reasons.

Need for action

Research indicates that the Maternal Mortality Rate (MMR) in Kenya is 100 times higher than it is in the Netherlands. Moreover, around 70% of patients in primary care are women and children. The consequences of poor health care are often more serious for women than they are for men. An unnecessarily large number of women die during childbirth, something which can be avoided with the right assistance. The main components of this program are based on the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), focusing on the following 4 SDGs.

• SDG 3: Good health and well-being
• SDG 5: Gender equality
• SDG 6: Clean water and sanitation
• SDG 17: Partnerships for the goals

Social and economic opportunities

There is global agreement that primary care is the most efficient and effective way of improving a health-care system. If health care is to be future-proof, public-private partnership is essential. The reason is that the private sector can provide the innovations, management capability and investments which the public sector needs to deliver sustainable, high-quality health care. Consequently, the aim of the program is to strengthen primary care in Kenya through public-private partnerships.

Mission for the Netherlands

Health care in Kenya will be improved using the impact model, which comprises 3 tracks in the first instance. Each of these strands contributes independently to the overarching objective.

Track 1: P4PC
Philips and Amref have developed a business model for collaboration between the public and private sectors in the field of primary care. This model, which is known as Partnership for Primary Care (P4PC), aims to improve the supply and demand side of primary care in a financially sustainable and profitable way.

Track 2: Partnership for training health-care workers
There is a growing shortage of healthcare workers in Africa. This shortage jeopardizes the quality of future care. The second track of this program therefore focuses on training health-care workers. An important part of this process is e-learning.
Online learning is still relatively new and all kinds of obstacles have to be overcome.
Dutch partners can for example provide added value by working on curriculum development, didactic knowledge as well as exchanges among students and staff.

Track 3: Expansion of scope
Primary care is not the only factor involved in improving the health of the population. Contaminated drinking water, for example, allows WASH-related diseases such as dysentery, cholera, trachoma and typhus to thrive.
This track therefore focuses on improving access to a sustainable, safe and adequate supply of water as well as suitable sanitary practices. That way, women and children can be protected against WASH-related disease epidemics.