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.

The Health Ministry has introduced new medical drones that will help in the delivery of life-saving medicine, vaccines, and blood during emergencies.

The system will need health workers to place orders by text message and receive their deliveries in 30 minutes on average.

The commissioner clinical services, Dr. Charles Olaro, told the New Vision that they are engaged in discussions with a number of partners in the process of introducing medical drones. The approach is good and that the discussions were among others exploring the modalities of financing.

“The partner is finalising on how it is going to be financed and be able to see how to pull other partners who can support it,”Olaro said.

Globally, access to essential health products is hampered by the difficulty of supplying medicines from central storage to remotely located patients at the time of need.

The president of Uganda Medical Association (UMA), Dr. Ekwaro Obuku, said if the medical drones are introduced they will help to speedily deliver drugs to hard to reach areas especially when there are stock-outs of medicines.

Obuku also mentioned, “The medical drones can be effective, cost-saving and time-saving in quick delivery of life-saving medicines and blood to health facilities.”

Early this year, Ghana inaugurated medical delivery drones in the city of Omenako.
The drones designed by Zipline, a California-based robotics company have benefited 12 million people all over the country.

Up to 600 daily drone flight are made to deliver vaccines, blood supplies and life-saving medicines to 2,000 health centres in remote areas across the country.

As a part of a free health services arrangement supported by the Turkish Cooperation and Coordination Agency (Tika), over 2,000 people from Morogoro region received dental and medical treatment.
People from all walks of life gathered at the Mchikichini A and Mchikichini B Primary schools, where health experts from Tika had camped to deliver free health consultations, testing and treatment.

The responsibility went along with providing support to children in Upanga, where there is a children’s retention home in Dar es Salaam, as part of the Turkish cooperation and support programs to African countries.
Upanga Children Retention home was established in 1962 with the aim of retaining accused children below 18 years old who are in conflict with laws.
The home was established purposely to make sure children are separated from the group of accused adult detention.

Darivs Kalijongo, Upanga Retention home Manager, mentioned the challenges that face the Upanga Retention Home, such as absence of proper programs for supporting children’s behavior modification, and a small budget for fuel to take and collect children from courts located outside the city including Chalinze (Msoga), Bagamoyo, Mkuranga, Kisarawe and Kibaha.

Mr Kalijongo also thanked other partners and good Samaritans from different parts of Dar es Salaam and beyond, including Tanganyika Law Society, WILAC, Ilala Municipal Council and the social welfare committee for their material and moral support to the retention home.

Tika’S Country Director Halil Ibrahim Okur mentioned that Tika decided to provide equipment to the children’s retention home so that the children can benefit and use them for their betterment as they continue with social cultural and education activities in the retention home.

Tika has provided television set and decoders, computers, desks, solar energy, beds and mattresses, renovation of the retention home with pavement and painting of the home for the children.

Tika’S Country Director Halil Ibrahim Okur the agency is performing many projects in other African countries and Tanzania is considered to be important to them.
He said they are executing this project to support government initiatives and showing solidarity.

At present, 10 Turkish dentists are volunteering in delivering health service at Muhimbili National Hospital as part of Tika’s program.

MCX Environmental Energy Corp, a US company specializing in renewable energy production announced that it will build the solar plant which will require an overall investment of US $100m.

Kenya is set to construct a 30MW solar park in Mwale Medical and Technology City (MMTC), a new green city in western Kenya under construction.

The new green city, located in Butere Sub-County, Kakamega is set to house 4,800 environmentally friendly, “affordable” and medium-sized residences.
The city will also feature a 5,000-bed reference hospital and one of Kenya’s largest shopping centres.

The entire city estimated to cost US $2bn will function with green energy sources.

Hundreds of solar streetlights are planned, along with a plant capable of producing 144 MW, via a household waste incinerator with energy recovery.
The MCX Environmental Energy’s photovoltaic solar park will be delivered in December 2020.

Uganda is the first and only country in Africa to reach and break the World Health Organisation 2020 target of ensuring access, treatment and awareness creation of Hepatitis B, according to a new scorecard launched to track progress against the viral infection on the continent.

“More than 30 per cent of the population who are infected with Hepatitis B are now aware of their status and can have access to free medical care, making Uganda the first country in Africa to cross the 2020 target of 20 per cent,” notes the WHO scorecard.

WHO hopes that by 2020, some five million people will have received treatment for chronic Hepatitis B and that the number of new cases will come down to 30 per cent from those witnessed in 2015.

Uganda has spent some $3 million annually from 2015 on a free Hepatitis B screening programme and conducted a community mobilisation and sensitisation drive on the viral infection.
More than four million people have been screened to date.

“Only Rwanda (Hepatitis C) and Uganda (Hepatitis B) have started free nationwide screening as a decentralised service, and are on track to reach the 2020 target for screening and community awareness,” notes WHO.

Kenneth Kabagambe, founder of Uganda’s National Organisation for People Living with Hepatitis B in 2012, said, “Over the years, we’ve been working hard for more government support, and we’re proud that Uganda is one of the first African nations to fund domestic action against Hepatitis B.”

Uganda and Rwanda have made progress in this area.

Ethiopia welcomes investment from Chinese medical tech firms in order to gain the abundant investment opportunities in Ethiopia with special emphasis on investments in the medical technology sector.

The decision was made by Ethiopia’s State Minister of Foreign Affairs, Aklilu Hailemichael, during his meeting held with representatives of different Chinese medical technology firms in Ethiopia’s capital Addis Ababa.

Hailemichael said, “The Ethiopian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, in collaboration with the Ethiopian Ministry of Health and other related institutions, will support Chinese firms to invest in the medical technology sector.”

The Chinese investment delegation, consisting of representatives from giant Chinese medical technology firms, also during the discussions noted that Chinese high-end medical equipments would help Ethiopia’s efforts to develop its healthcare sector, with particular importance to the treatment of cancer and similar diseases.

The representatives also conveyed their dedicated interest to positively contribute to Ethiopia’s healthcare sector via experience sharing and knowledge transfer, once their companies commence operations in the East African country.

The company’s Solar Direct Drive (SDD) vaccine refrigerators are considered by many Ethiopian healthcare officials and experts as an “ideal solution” for thousands of healthcare facilities all over the East African country where access to electricity is lacking.

Last month, the Ethiopian government had praised China’s Haier Biomedical Ltd. Company – a subsidiary of the Chinese multinational consumer electronics and home appliances giant Haier Group Corporation – for its life-saving contributions through the introduction of its innovative Solar Direct Drive (SDD) vaccine refrigerators.

The United Nations Children’s Fund recently praised Zanzibar’s roles in developing services to children including improving the health and education sectors.

Outgoing UNICEF country Director to Tanzania, Maniza Zaman, mentioned when she held talks with Zanzibar President, Ali Mohamed Shein.

She praised Shein and his government for the efforts to control Gender Based Violence and violation of children rights as well as fighting diseases such as malaria and cholera.

The UN official said the Zanzibar government has achieved different successes in taking care of children by making sure that they get their basic rights including health and education.

The outgoing UNICEF country chief said the agency will continue to provide support to the Zanzibar government in its every attempt they make which include reducing maternal deaths.

Zaman added that UNICEF will continue with its various programs in Zanzibar including empowering children economically and many others.

In his remarks, Zanzibar president said UNICEF has a big history in development issues with Zanzibar including improving the education and health sectors particularly to women and children.

Shein said Zanzibar will continue on working with various UN agencies including UNICEF by making sure that they receive their basic rights such as education and health.

The dental hygiene devices market is presently witnessing ascendency of toothbrush sales.
The substantial growth of the E-commerce sector is translating into upgrading online sales of dental hygiene devices, which is posing strong competition facing the retail pharmacy segment.

Toothbrush has been the top-selling product in global dental hygiene devices landscape, allocated to widespread availability, a considerable selection range, broad price range, and frequent innovation.

Currently, toothbrush sales account for almost 60% of the total market revenue, whereas the report indicates that dental scalers and dental polishing devices are moderately acquiring ground.
Retail pharmacies will remain the largest revenue generating channel of distribution in dental hygiene devices market.

While, online pharmacies are slated to present promising investment opportunities to dental hygiene devices manufacturers.
The report projects that revenue generated via online retail would cross the US$ 1 billion mark in the next 3-4 years.

The report sheds light on all the aspects related to universal demand for dental hygiene devices and offers insights on the growth prospects projected for global dental hygiene devices market through the next few years.

North America and Western Europe are likely to hold a collective share of more than a third of the global market value.
APAC and Latin America are confident to remain highly profitable regional markets for manufacturers of dental hygiene devices owing to invariably increasing demand for dental treatments in these regions.

Besides frequent product innovations, important players in the global dental hygiene devices market maintain their strategic focus on the improvment of distribution channel by nourishing existing marketing efforts across Asian markets, particularly in India, Singapore, and Malaysia.

Electric/battery-operated toothbrush innovations continue to shape new launch strategies of a majority of companies, while most of the market leaders are focusing on coming up with new novel toothpaste ranges specific to various oral care demands.

P&G also launched a new toothpaste range recently, precisely for improved gum health.
Dabur India Ltd. released a modern variant of their flagship toothpaste range i.e. ayurvedic specialist toothpaste in gel format.

The Global Dental 3D Printing Market Research Report 2019 evaluates the ancient performance and the current status of Dental 3D Printing Market for a detailed understanding, highlighting chiefly on the dynamics of the demand and supply of Dental 3D Printing in 2018.

The worldwide market for Dental 3D Printing is expected to grow at a CAGR of roughly 17.5% over the next five years which shows that it will reach 690 million US$ in 2024, from 260 million US$ in 2019.

The research study additionally offers a study of the current status of the important regional markets for Dental 3D Printing, such as, China, North America, Eastern Europe, Western Europe, Japan, the Middle East and Africa, and the Rest of Asia, on the basis of a number of important and key Dental 3D Printing market parameters, such as, the production volume, pricing of the product, production capacity, sales, demand and supply dynamics, revenue, and the rate of growth of this Dental 3D Printing market in each of the regions.

Several sections of the worldwide Dental 3D Printing market have also been discussed in this research report with thorough information, taking into consideration their historical and existing performance in the global arena.

The growth trajectory of each of the sections has been provided in global terms and in each of the regional markets, creating a expressive examinations of the overall Dental 3D Printing market.

This research study has also discussed the existing and the forthcoming ventures in the worldwide market for Dental 3D Printing at length, making it of special value for companies, consultants, and other stakeholders operating in this Dental 3D Printing market.

Thailand has successfully executed the UHC programme for its citizens and their package includes in-patient, out-patient and emergency care to all nationals.

The Government of Thailand has pledged to continue working with Kenya’s Health Ministry to leverage on achieving the Universal Health Coverage which is one of the significant pillars in the country’s Big Four Agenda.

Health Cabinet Secretary, Sicily Kariuki and her Thailand counterpart Emeritus Piyasakol, entered into a deal with Thailand so as to support in formulating the best service delivery package for the country’s Universal Health Coverage (UHC) plan.

Thailand is now one of Kenya’s consultative and technical partners in UHC execution.

“We will work together with the Ministry of Health in Kenya to attain the full execution of UHC”, said, Piyasakol.

As part of the collaboration, already over 50 participants from Kenya have been successfully trained on Health Technology Assessment by the Health Intervention and Technology Assessment Program (HITAP) in Thailand.

“UHC doesn’t only mean ‘financial protection’ but also more on universal entrance to comprehensive health services”, commented, Deputy Permanent Secretary of the Thai Ministry of Health, Supakit Sirilak.

He further continued saying “they started their journey to attaining UHC by developing a health system that makes sure the universal access to vital health services”.

Motivation of health workers and equipping all levels of hospitals with necessary medical equipment is also said to be a plan they applied.

The South East Asian country is just about the same land mass and population as Kenya and they have achieved this important milestone in health, even though having a low gross national income per capita at the time they started their journey back in 2002.

“The country is on the right track towards achieving UHC, adding that they have so far recorded success in UHC piloting which is at present taking place in four Counties”, noted, CS Kariuki.

Besides this, from Thailand, Kariuki has also met with Cuban health minister, Zimbabwe, South Africa, Burundi, Guinea Bissau and United Kingdom.

Already 100 medical specialists from Cuba have been imported in the country and posted to various counties.

This great help from Thailand will benefit Kenya in improvising their universal healthcare coverage.