Boehringer Ingelheim launches In Reach Africa that addresses key healthcare infrastructure and access priorities across Africa
Boehringer
Ingelheim, one of the world’s leading pharmaceutical companies, announced today
the launch of the ‘In Reach Africa’ program, an initiative aimed at
facilitating quality and innovative human and animal healthcare access across
the African continent.
The program,
set to kick off in Kenya and expand throughout major African markets
includingNigeria, Ghana,Ethiopia,Uganda, Mozambique, Tanzania, Zambia, Zimbabwe
and Rwanda, comprises a range of key elements that aim at adding more value to
overall health systems, in an effort to drive access to care, support with the
development of innovative health solutions, creating community based
partnerships and raising awareness around key disease areas as well as
prevention mechanisms.
A delegate of
senior executives from Boehringer Ingelheim’s global network has recently
arrived to Kenya to inaugurate the start of ‘In Reach Africa’ by participating
in a series of activities and workshops that are the building blocks of the
newly launched program. The senior visit reflects the company’s underlying
commitment towards working with the right partners throughout Africa with the
aim of addressing key infrastructure and access priorities across the
continent.
“‘In Reach
Africa’ shares a vision of driving accessibility, sustainability and innovation
through enhancing health systems in Africa by providing an accessible range of
medication and healthcare solutions, increasing awareness of key disease
priorities through reach and enriching knowledge and education initiatives. In
doing so, it is designed toadd more value to the socioeconomic structure by
working with and supporting low income families on multiple fronts”said Yew LooiLiew, Head of Corporate Division Prescription Medicine
Emerging Markets at Boehringer Ingelheim.
“Non
Communicable Diseases (NCDs) are a silent epidemic in low and middle-income
countries, which account for 75 per cent of global NCDs deaths. Africa is
expected to experience 3.9m NCD-related deaths a year by 2020, a rise of more
than 20 per cent.[1]Accordingly, we need to commit ourselves as an organization to working
together with all other healthcare players to build an infrastructure that is
sustainable, and one which can ensure needed therapies are available in even
the most remote areas. At Boehringer Ingelheim, we believe that everyone should
have access to good health, no matter where they live”concluded Yew_LooiLiew.
Enrique Manzoni, Regional Managing Director –
Middle East, Turkey, Africa (META) at Boehringer Ingelheimsaid, “At
the heart of this program is creating more awareness around key health issues
being for humans or animals, facilitating accessibility to medication as well
as developing innovative healthcare solutions. Following a thorough assessment
of the current landscape across the region, ‘In Reach Africa’ has been
developed to partner with multiple key local stakeholders to empower the health
systems and individuals alike to establish a sustainable and holistic approach
that connects to human and animal health priorities across the African
continent. It is a tailored, modern approach, and one which is designed to
adapt to the current healthcare realities in Africa.”
“Empowering individuals is a core part of our strategy and the
fundamental element throughout ‘In Reach Africa’. For example, we have deployed
several initiatives such as the ‘Making More Health (MMH) Accelerator program
that supports social health entrepreneurs to strengthen and scale their work,
by bringing some of the best experiences in social and health
innovation as well as global health to improve access across Sub-Saharan Africa” added Manzoni.
MMH is a global initiative developedin
partnership between Boehringer Ingelheim and Ashoka, a global non-governmental
organisation, aimed at creating social impact. It is the core driver of social
entrepreneurship, innovation and co-creation for Boehringer Ingelheim in Africa
and across the world by developing a range of approaches that aim to improve
health outcomes. Through MMH in Kenya, Boehringer Ingelheim and Askoka
supported iSikCure, an application developed to improve access to quality care
and safe medicine. In 2017, Boehringer Ingelheim, in partnership with Access
Afya and PharmAccess, launched AkibaYaRoho, a micro-savings program geared
towards driving more healthcare awareness and overall understanding and
management of non-communicable disease in some rural areas within Kenya.
[1]Africa’s health crisis needs a focus on systems, not people |
https://www.ft.com/content/8f909e26-bd65-11e7-9836-b25f8adaa111
Comments
Post a Comment