The Turkish Cooperation and Coordination Agency (TIKA) has on many occasions helped Lamu by sending doctors and specialists to undertake various medical camps.

The government of Turkey has pledged to provide financial support towards boosting the health sector in Lamu county.
The pledge was made by Turkish ambassador to Kenya Ahmet Miroglu during his tour of Lamu.

The TIKA programme which was founded in 1992 is responsible for the organisation of the bulk of Turkey’s official development assistance to developing countries.

Miroglu said Turkey would provide both financial help and manpower to help boost the functionality of the health institutions.

Apart from health, TIKA has also been implementing other projects in various counties, particularly in Agriculture, Education and many others.

Miroglu expressed his satisfaction with the management of King Fahad Referral Hospital as well as other health institutions. He lauded Lamu county government for the efforts to improve the sector.

He also said Turkey hopes to continue partnering with the Lamu county government and Kenya as a whole in providing the much needed medical assistance to the local communities.

Deputy Governor Abdulhakim Aboud lauded the Turkish government and the TIKA programme for their dedicated efforts in supporting health care institutions within the country.

Aboud further continued, “We’re happy for the existing cooperation between Lamu and Turkey. TIKA has been of great benefit not only to Lamu but the rest of the counties. We will continue to strengthen the relationship for the benefit of our people.”

In a bid to improve healthcare access, Lamu has enrolled more than 20,000 poor and vulnerable families into the free National Health Insurance Fund cover.

Opening a three – day training on Project ECHO in Dar es Salaam, the Ministry’s Assistant Director for Diagnostic Services, Dr Alex Magesa said that the government was working towards opening more hubs in all zonal hospitals and teaching institutions how to reach more participants.

The government through the Ministry of Health, Community Development, Gender, Elderly and Children is set to open more hubs to facilitate the implementation of a medical education and care management model with the aim of improving health service delivery in the country.

It is a hub-and-spoke educational model that allows subject matter experts in any field of concern to share their knowledge with frontline providers in underserved communities.

Dubbed Extension for Community Healthcare Outcomes (ECHO), the platform is set for practice-based education and training, service delivery, and outcomes research.

Dr Magesa said that currently there are three hubs, which are Kibong’oto, Bugando and National Health Laboratory Quality Assurance and Training Centre “With this rapid expansion, we need to maintain quality of information and programmes offered, that is why we have identified the need of having this training in the country.”

He said that the project was in line with the government intention to promote the use of technology to communicate rather than travelling long distances seeking for information.

Dr Magesa said although it had started as a training model for non -laboratory HIV Rapid testers, currently there were more than five ECHO models in the country focusing on HIV care and treatment, Tuberculosis (TB), safe surgery, HIV rapid testing training and Emergency Operation Centre (ECHO).

He further said, “this initiative is a lifelong learning and guided practice model that revolutionalises medical education and exponentially increase workforce capacity to provide best- practice specialty care and reduce health inequalities.”

Dr Magesa also explained that one class of 25 to 30 participants who travel from four to five districts to the region for a three day training costs about 14m/-, but through project ECHO the training could cost US dollars 3500 only.

He said Tanzania decided to embark on the programme because it was cost effective, reaches many professionals at a short time, a learn by doing modes, a mentoring model and to support President John Magufuli’s vision of utilising resources effectively.

He also noted that the difference between the two was that equipment of Project ECHO can be used repeatedly, hence widening the support.

A special site at the southern peripheral of Addis Ababa saw the arrival of officials from the AU and the Ethiopian government, and diplomats from the Chinese mission to the AU.
The site, which covers an area of 90,000 square meters, is designated to the much-needed Africa Center for Disease Prevention and Control (Africa CDC).

With help from China, the construction of the CDC headquarters will soon begin.
This project is part of the commitment China made last year to the African people.

During the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation in Beijing last September, Chinese President Xi Jinping declared that China has decided to upgrade 50 medical and health aid programs for Africa, particularly flagship projects such as the headquarters of the Africa CDC.

Amira Elfadil, the AU commissioner for Social Affairs said that the CDC headquarters were scheduled to start construction by 2020, the AU will work closely with the Ethiopia government to finish the preparations by the end of this year.

The Chinese government will help the AU and Ethiopia with the project’s design and construction, and will further provide help in essential equipment, which are followed by personnel training, and operational and technical assistance from China once the construction completes.

The layout of the CDC includes at least one emergency response center, an information center, laboratories, a library, a press conference room, a training center as well as offices and expert apartments, emerging to be the best facility for disease control and prevention in Africa.

Head of the Chinese mission Liu Yuxi said that China and Africa are good brothers, friends, and partners, also noting that the CDC headquarters will soon be a new landmark of this partnership.

Tesfaye Yilma, the Ethiopian ambassador to the bloc, said that the CDC headquarters is yet another example of the concrete partnership between China and Africa.

Elfadil hailed the Chinese people for their support of Africa’s healthcare development, noting that China has continued to send medical experts here, including their CDC personnel.

Kenya gears towards universal health care as the government through the Ministry of Health is pledged to improving the livelihood of Kenyans through provision of efficient and high- quality health care system.

Speaking during the launch of KHSDI survey report 2018/2022 in Nairobi, the Ministry of Health Director General, Wekesa Masasabi said that for Kenya to make rapid progress towards Universal Health Care (UHC), a health system needs to have skilled human resources, minimum inputs such as drugs, commodities and infrastructure, financing, leadership and governance and health information system.

“We want to make sure that medical equipment is available since most of the population access care at public health facilities,” Masasabi added.

The National Treasury Principal Secretary (PS), Dr. Julius Muia said that government through the vision 2030, has tried to improve the livelihood of Kenyans through sufficient and quality health care which is in line with the constitution of Kenya (2010) which stipulates that every Kenyan has a right to the highest standard of healthcare services.

Muia further called upon the government to boost its investment in human resources for health in provision of clinical guidelines to health workers and diagnostic equipment to health facilities in both public and private hospitals.

The KHSDI report has been prepared in consultation with the government of Kenya under the Ministry of Health.

The SDI heath survey team visited a sample of 3, 094 health facilities across Kenya, with data collection from all the 47 counties remaining the largest to date.