Boehringer Ingelheim, one of the world’s leading
pharmaceutical companies, announced the results of its access to healthcare
programs part of the “In reach Africa” program namely Kuza Afya and Tiba
Yako in Nairobi and Western Kenya.
Kuza Afya is a diabetes and hypertension care
programme designed to work with communities and healthcare workers through
comprehensive education, screening and care. It was unveiled in January 2019
and rolled out in Bungoma County, Western Kenya until December 2019. During this
period, over 70,000 community members were screened for hypertension and 40,000
for diabetes.
“Hypertension and diabetes prevalence rates are still
very high in Nairobi and Western Kenya regions. However, through Kuza Afya and
Tiba Yako we were able to identify the key challenges on the ground being lack
of awareness on the diseases and access to healthcare services especially in
the grassroots and low income areas. The two programmes helped bridge this gap
by equipping more clinics with basic diagnostic kits so as to test as many
people as possible and link patients with the right management to avoid any
complications occasioned by late diagnosis. We will continue to offer technical
support to the projects on the ground to ensure that they continue offering
these services to the community” said Simon Manyara, Product Manager at
Boehringer Ingelheim Sub-Sahara Africa.
The programme was implemented in partnership with the
AMPATH Consortium comprising 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
communities
The programme also trained over 500 community health
workers and 57 clinical officers and nurses on identification, prevention and
management of the two conditions. An innovative supply chain mechanism using a
portable pharmacy was created to ensure uninterrupted supply of medicines for
those in need.
Through these efforts, over 5,000 new patients in the
region are now accessing care for hypertension and diabetes routinely. To
support care for the patients diagnosed with hypertension or diabetes health
facilities were equipped with basic diagnostic kits and care protocols and
offered mentorship for quality care.
Tiba Yako is a digital
service model for diabetes and hypertension care mainly in Nairobi. The
programme was rolled out last year by Boehringer Ingelheim in partnership with
Pharm Access mainly targeting people living in slum areas and other informal
settlements in Nairobi. Through this programme, patients have access to a
mobile health wallet with which they can save for healthcare expenses and acquire
discounted prices for treatment of their chronic disease.
Under the Tiba Yako programme, patients were screened
and directly supported through awareness programmes, access and adherence to
diabetes and hypertension care. Patients also acquired a device to measure their
blood pressure and/or glucose levels at home and were trained by agents to
enter these figures in a self-management app.
The programme enrolled over 1,435 patients in Nairobi
in one year and continue to access care for hypertension and diabetes
routinely. During the roll out, 7 clinics were selected to support care for the
patients diagnosed with hypertension or diabetes. The health facilities were
also equipped with basic diagnostic kits and care protocols and offered
mentorship for quality care.
This digital model has been hailed as successful in
the management of hypertension and diabetes patients owing to the mobile phones
access and network penetration in Kenya. The programme registered patient adherence
of 48%, which is higher than the projected 27%.
Tiba Yako is anchored by
M-TIBA, a digital payment platform for healthcare which was developed by
PharmAccess and partners. M-TIBA provides access to healthcare by connecting
people to clinics and healthcare funders, directly through a wallet on their
mobile phone, and exchanging money and data between them.
The two programmes are part of Boehringer Ingelheim
‘In Reach Africa’ programme which aims at improving quality and access of human
and animal healthcare across the African continent.
The ‘In Reach Africa’ programme has been developed to
collaborate with multiple key local stakeholders to empower the health systems and
is designed to adapt to the current healthcare realities in Africa.
The programme was launched last year in Kenya and
later rolled out in other Sub Sahara Africa countries like Nigeria and
Ghana. Through this programme, Boehringer Ingelheim targets the major
NCDs (non-communicable diseases) like Diabetes, Hypertension and Stroke.
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