NEW YORK, Sept 21, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Private Sector Health Partnership Kenya (PSHP Kenya) today announced a new multiyear Masterplan, new investments and new membership at the Every Woman Every Child (EWEC) High-Level Event "Delivering Together for Healthy & Empowered Women, Children & Adolescents."

Through this joint-EWEC-commitment, Safaricom, Huawei, Philips, MSD, Unilever and GSK pledged support to complement on-going efforts of UNFPA to significantly improve maternal health in the 6 counties (Migori, Mandera, Marsabit, Wajir, Isiolo, Lamu) of Kenya accounting for close to 50% of all maternal deaths, and improve by 2020 the health and well-being of 3.5 million people in these counties. UNFPA and Kenya Healthcare Federation (KHF) have been mandated to convene and coordinate partners in meeting their commitment and established website and secretariat for the partnership.

The partnership harnesses the talent, expertise, technology, and resources of the private sector, in alignment with the Global Financing Facility and close collaboration with the Government of Kenya, the County Governments of the 6 Counties and other partners. Through its collective action partners help build models that offer the best of both public and private sector, with the potential for scaling-up the delivery of healthcare for vulnerable and poor populations in low-resource settings.

PSHP Kenya is open to all private sector companies and organizations both international and national, who want to partner and demonstrate action within the 6 counties and support partners in achieving their mission.

Unilever joins PSHP Kenya
Unilever is one of the world's leading suppliers of Food, Home Care, Personal Care and Refreshment products with sales in over 190 countries and reaching 2.5 billion consumers a day. Unilever's Sustainable Living Plan underpins the company's strategy and commits to helping more than a billion people take action to improve their health and well-being by 2020.

Unilever has been working on a number of initiatives in Kenya including with UNFPA and Amref on a Maternal and Newborn Health and Hygiene project in Migori, one of the six counties PSHP Kenya is focusing its work on. This partnership and project also features in Unilever's #HeroesForChange programme. Other Unilever initiatives in Kenyainclude nutrition and oral health programs.

Myriam Sidibe, Unilever Africa Social Mission Director noted that "Unilever already aligns with PSHP Kenya's goal and shares a common agenda; we are looking forward to working closely with the other PSHP Kenya partners to expand our current program's impact and together drive new initiatives and progress towards improving maternal and newborn health and hygiene."

PSHP Kenya ongoing and new investments

Since its announcement in September 2015 by Bob Collymore, CEO of Safaricom, efforts have begun to bring real results. With the support also of the World Economic Forum, partners have engaged with over 100 leaders from public and private sector and unlocked $3 million private financing in finding shared-value business solutions for leapfrogging the health systems within the six counties.

A Community Life Center (CLC) has been established in Mandera County with support of the Ministry of Health, County Government, Philips and UNFPA, serving a catchment area of 40,000 people aiming to demonstrate that maternal, newborn and child health can be improved through Public Private Partnership and innovation, even in the most difficult conditions. When successful Philips will be able to scale-up this venture to many more areas serving larger communities.

At the event Philips Kenya and the Philips Foundation announced a new initiative in Wajir to help strengthen the counties community health structures by testing a mobile obstetric monitoring solution and providing Outreach Kits which would empower community health workers in early detection of high-risk pregnancies and enable timely referral to appropriate levels of care.

MSD / Merck is investing USD 1.5 million in designing and testing innovative approaches to Adolescent and Youth Sexual and Reproductive Health service delivery in Migori and Mandera in support of the hundred thousands' of adolescent and youth living within those counties. In Mandera, the initiative targets the CLC to build on and complement PSHP Kenya partner's efforts.

Safaricom and Huawei have started to pool their unique expertise and services in IT and mobile connectivity to design and test transformational digital health solutions in Lamu County connecting all primary clinics with their referral facilities and hospitals aiming to serve the entire population in the County. Video conference facilities enable remote specialized consultations for patients and medical education for medical staff. Senior Public Affairs Director for Huawei Kenya, Adam Lane, noted that "Frequently the time and financial costs are so high to travel to see specialists that half of patients who need referrals for non-emergencies are put off and do not go for their referrals."

PSHP Kenya new Masterplan

Building on the experience from the partnerships' first two years of operations and strong progress, the partners are developing a new Masterplan to enhance their governance structure, and expand the scope and scale of PSHP Kenya activities, with the aim to accelerate progress.

The Masterplan lays out the establishment of a CEO steering committee to drive high-level leadership; a technical advisory committee to tap into the wealth of expertise and knowledge within the Country; and enhanced dialogue with the national and county governments to strengthen Public Private Collaboration and blending of public and private financing in order to optimize resource mobilization and utilization.

The partners will work closely together to focus on 5 main activities:

·  Joint projects to directly improve maternal newborn health and improve well-being of over 3.5 million people within the 6 counties.

·  A strong platform for coordination and cooperation between private sector and other stakeholders as for example within the SDG Partnership Platform to improve maternal and newborn health in Kenya.

·  Resource mobilization to increase the financing and contributions towards effective and impactful progress in reducing maternal and new-born health.

·  Advocacy to improve the enabling environment for—and impact of—public-private partnerships

·  Communications and awareness raising to encourage more companies to improve maternal and new-born health in Kenya, and to highlight potential solutions.

Dr Amit Thakker, Chairman of the Kenya, and Africa Healthcare Federations said: "This novel partnership has already demonstrated the power of collaboration for advancing health and wellbeing in some of Kenya's poorest and most remote areas. We now want to scale up its activities and impacts on the ground. We hope that it may inspire others - to also achieve great things working together." 

Dr Olajide Ademola, UNFPA Country Representative to Kenya, stated, "The partnership is delighted to make these announcements today in support of the United Nations' Every Woman Every Child initiative and looks forward to making further progress in these and other projects in the future, bringing on board more private sector partners, and driving public-private partnerships in Kenya to improve maternal and newborn health."

Further information on the partnership and the partners is available at: www.pshpkenya.org.

About the Kenya Healthcare Federation
Kenya Healthcare Federation (KHF) is the health sector board of the Kenya Private Sector Alliance (KEPSA). Founded in 2004, the Federation represents and works with private healthcare providers, hospitals, pharmaceutical manufacturers and insurers to create an enabling environment that supports quality and affordable healthcare for all.

KHF is dedicated to engaging the government and all relevant stakeholders in achieving this by maximizing the contribution of the private sector and to champion constructive Public-Private Partnerships for better healthcare by networking, engaging and representing and through win-win negotiations.

About UNFPA, the United Nations Populations Fund
UNFPA, the United Nations Population Fund, is an international development agency that delivers a world where every pregnancy is wanted, every birth is safe and every young person's potential is fulfilled. UNFPA partners with governments, other agencies and civil society organizations to advance this mission. UNFPA was established in Kenya in 1972. In the last 35 years, UNFPA Kenya has responded to the priority needs of the Government of Kenya.

About GlaxoSmithKline 
GSK (GlaxoSmithKline) is a science-led global healthcare company. GSK works to widening access to their products, so more people can benefit, no matter where they live in the world or what they can afford to pay. By delivering a sustainable business, GSK provide health benefits to patients and consumers, improved shareholder returns as well as supporting wider society.

About Huawei 
Huawei is a leading global information and communications technology (ICT) solutions provider. Our aim is to enrich life and improve efficiency through a better connected world, acting as a responsible corporate citizen, innovative enabler for the information society, and collaborative contributor to the industry. Driven by customer-centric innovation and open partnerships, Huawei has established an end-to-end ICT solutions portfolio that gives customers competitive advantages in telecom and enterprise networks, devices and cloud computing. Huawei's 170,000 employees worldwide are committed to creating maximum value for telecom operators, enterprises and consumers. Our innovative ICT solutions, products and services are used in more than 170 countries and regions, serving over one-third of the world's population. Founded in 1987, Huawei is a private company fully owned by its employees.

For more information, please visit Huawei online at www.huawei.com.

About MSD
Merck, Sharp & Dohme (MSD)* (* known as Merck in the USA & Canada)
MSD is an innovative, global healthcare leader committed to improving health and well-being of people around the world.We demonstrate our commitment to increasing access to healthcare through far-reaching policies, programmes and partnerships to help people around the world lead healthier lives. At the heart of MSD's access to health and corporate responsibility approach in Sub-Saharan Africa is a commitment to discover, develop and provide innovative products and services that save and improve lives while growing our business in a sustainable way. Our goal is to sustain and improve the quality of life and health for individuals, families, communities and countries in Sub-Saharan Africa.

About Philips 
Royal Philips is a diversified health and well-being company, focused on improving people's lives through meaningful innovation in the areas of Healthcare, Consumer Lifestyle and Lighting. Headquartered in the Netherlands, Philips posted 2014 sales of EUR 21.4 billion and employs approximately 104,000 employees with sales and services in more than 100 countries. The company is a leader in cardiac care, acute care and home healthcare, energy efficient lighting solutions and new lighting applications, as well as male shaving and grooming and oral healthcare.
News from Philips is located at www.philips.com/newscenter.

About Safaricom 
Safaricom is the biggest communication company in East and Central Africa, Safaricom delights over 25.1 million subscribers, providing over 200,000 touch points for its customers and offering over 100 different products under its portfolio. Safaricom is dedicated to transforming the lives of customers, communities and colleagues. They work collaboratively with partners to positively impact the lives across the country and beyond.

About Unilever
Unilever is one of the world's leading suppliers of Food, Home Care, Personal Care and Refreshment products with sales in over 190 countries and reaching 2.5 billion consumers a day. It has 169,000 employees and generated sales of €52.7 billion in 2016. Over half (57%) of the company's footprint is in developing and emerging markets. Unilever has more than 400 brands found in homes all over the world, including Persil, Dove, Knorr, Domestos, Hellmann's, Lipton, Wall's, PG Tips, Ben & Jerry's, Magnum and Lynx.

All media inquiries can be sent to the following contact and will be routed to the appropriate partner.