Boehringer Ingelheim partners with AMPATH to scale up knowledge, skills and training for healthcare providers in Kenya
Kenya’s
healthcare sector gets an additional boost with a partnership between Boehringer Ingelheim, one of the world’s leading
pharmaceutical companies, and the AMPATH Consortium. This long-term strategic
agreement aims at enabling better healthcare access and expertise for local
communities and healthcare providers. This will be achieved by developing
targeted community-based strategies, geared towards enhancing local skill sets
and expertise among medical personnel, improving referral mechanisms and
services, and increasing access to essential diabetes and hypertension
medication.
The AMPATH
Consortium comprises of multiple North American academic institutions led by
Indiana University, and partners with the Moi University and Moi Teaching and
Referral Hospital in Western Kenya, working together to exchange knowledge,
share resources, train medical professionals, and reach patients and whole
communities. This is done in partnership with the local ministry of health.
Boehringer
Ingelheim will support these initiatives by driving AMPATH’s programs with
funding, in-kind support, and expertise as part of its In Reach Africa
initiative, aimed at facilitating quality and innovative healthcare access
across the African continent.
AMPATH’s
integrated cardiovascular disease (CVD)management program focuses on community
screening for diabetes and hypertension, with those testing positive referred
to a health center. Boehringer Ingelheim will support with the training of
healthcare workers, the acquisition of basic diagnostic devices such as
glucometers, BP machines, weighing scales,and appropriate tools for monitoring
and evaluation.
The
collaboration will cover three main strategic areas of activity including
equipping healthcare workers with the requisite mentorship and skills they
need, as well as referral guidelines, with the goal of supporting care using
innovative approaches.
Healthcare
providers will be equipped with knowledge and skills to manage hypertension and
diabetes. In addition, a care program at all levels of the health care system
will be implemented so that care is targeted and available depending on the
severity of the disease.
Dr
Jeremiah Laktabai, Head of Population Services at AMPATHsaid, “Helping people means so much more than
medical treatment. It’s only when we combine care with nutrition and family
support, education, counseling, health insurance, food and income security, and
self-sufficiency that we truly change lives for the better. At the community
level, we will focus on screening and linking patients with hypertension and
diabetes to providing adequate care. At the lowest level health facilities, we
will support nurses with training, mentorship, and referral guidelines. With
increased screening efforts using various community-based strategies, we will
increase access to care through both group- and facility-based care, and
finally increase access to essential medications for diabetes and hypertension
through strengthening the existing supply chain mechanisms, and using
innovations such as our revolving fund pharmacies.”
Ayman
Eissa, Head of Human Pharma – Sub-Saharan Africa atBoehringer Ingelheim, said, “With the aim of enabling vital healthcare access,
imparting invaluable skills to the local workforce and also improving referral
process, we will work closely in partnership with the AMPATH team to support
their ability to improve the quality of care offered to patients. Their work in
developing culturally appropriate and contextualized referral protocols for
management of both primary/non-complex and complex patient populations and our
support in sustaining these centersand providing access to diagnostic devices
will ensure that patients with complications will continue to be a focus. ”
Improving
referral mechanisms and services will also be a key component of ensuring a
care system that links primary and specialty chronic disease services. Cardiovascular disease represents an important
complication of uncontrolled diabetes and hypertension that is now the leading
cause of non-communicable disease deaths globally. In Kenya, hypertension
treatment and control rates have been reported as suboptimal. For example, in a
cross-sectional study looking at prevalence, treatment and control of
hypertension among type 2 diabetic patients at a referral hospital, good blood
pressure control was observed in only 40% of patients.
As
of 2017, it was estimated thatthere were 458.900 reported cases of diabetes in
Kenya, set to rise even further to 498,000 cases by the year 2030.[1] This makes it all the more imperative
to put comprehensive healthcare protocols in place, which will be aided as a
result of the new partnership between Boehringer Ingelheim and the AMPATH
Consortium.
In
another population-based cross-sectional survey of two slums in Nairobi, only
20% of patients who had diabetes were aware of their condition and fewer than
5% of patients had their blood glucose under control.[2]
Therefore, early diagnosis and linkage to care are important cornerstones of
successful management of chronic illnesses and prevention of acute
complications.
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