President Uhuru Kenyatta Briefed on Progress of Kenya-UK Health Alliance

President Uhuru Kenyatta on Tuesday morning met with the leadership team of the Kenya-UK Health Alliance (KUKHA) on the sidelines of the ongoing 26th UN Climate Change Conference (COP26) in Glasgow, Scotland.

The KUKHA team briefed the Head of State on the progress of the implementation of the broad strategic partnership including the roll-out of the Jomo Kenyatta Scholarship programme and the building of a state-of-the-art training centre at Kisii University.

The Jomo Kenyatta Scholarship is a specialised medical training and capacity enhancement programme that will see Kenyan healthcare providers trained in the UK in a wide array of specialised medical areas.

The scholarship will also provide for the exchange of postgraduate medical students between Kenya and the UK with a view of enhancing research capabilities and healthcare service delivery in the two countries top among them oesophagus and breast cancers which are rampant in Kenya.

The training centre at Kisii University will be a regional hub for healthcare research, innovation and training of advanced level medical personnel for Kenya and Eastern Africa countries.

Key among KUKHA's programmes in Kenya is the ongoing progressive set up of an oncology centre of excellence at the Kenyatta University Teaching Research and Referral Hospital (KUTTRH), of which a world-class imaging facility has already been installed and was recently unveiled by President Kenyatta and First Lady Margaret Kenyatta.

In September this year, Health PS Susan Mochache was hosted by KUKHA in the UK during which the parties agreed to expand the partnership to include a mental health component to cover workforce exchange as well as the setting up of a new mental health facility for young persons under the age of 18 in Kenya.

President Kenyatta, who was accompanied to the meeting by Kenya's High Commissioner to the UK Amb Manoah Esipisu and State House Deputy Chief of Staff for Strategy and Policy Mrs Ruth Kagia, assured the KUKHA team of the Government's commitment to ensure the partnership succeeds and thanked the alliance for the progress made in the implementation of the various programmes.

Kisii Governor JamesOngwae, an initiator of the KUKHA partnership, thanked the President for driving the initiative saying the programme will assist Counties in accelerating the achievement of the Universal Health Coverage pillar of the Government's Big 4 Agenda.

The Kisii Governor, who was accompanied by his County's Health CEC Sarah Omache, informed the President of KUKHA's plan to involve other universities, research institutions and medical training centres within the Lake Victoria basin region in the programmes of the health training centre being set up at Kisii University, on a Public Private Partnership (PPP) arrangement, so as to benefit many more Kenyans.