Article written by Natalie Liddle, Senior Engagement Officer.

A Faculty programme is aiming to level up healthcare provision and education between Nairobi and western Kenya and provide western Kenya with the healthcare powerhouse it desperately needs.

Image: Professor Graham Lord, Vice-President and Dean of the Faculty of Biology, Medicine and Health in the Statehouse with HE President William Ruto and HE Simba Arati, the Governor of Kisii County

The move will help to promote the development of a Centre of Excellence for Healthcare Education and Training in western and central Kenya by the Ministry of Education.

The Centre will have its hub in Kisii University and its spokes in Maseno, Masinde Muliro, Egerton, Bomet and Kibabii Universities.

The approval of the programme by the Kenyan Cabinet will see the Ministry of Education seek just short of £1 billion from UK Export Finance and other Development Partners to build six new healthcare campuses in western and central Kenya and licence the Medicine, Dentistry, Pharmacy and Nursing programmes from The University of Manchester.

The Educational Hub will create a workforce capable of dealing with the challenges of providing patient-centred healthcare for non-communicable diseases in the region.

Professor Keith Brennan, Vice Dean for Internationalisation said: “By 2030 non-communicable diseases are set to overtake communicable, maternal, neonatal and nutritional diseases combined as the leading causes of death in Kenya.

“Associated with this rise in mortality is an exponential increase in the morbidity burden associated with cancer, cardiovascular, respiratory and metabolic diseases even amongst the rural communities.

“That is why establishing an education pipeline that can deliver a modern, flexible and resilient healthcare workforce capable of responding to the rising tide of non-communicable diseases is an urgent priority within Kenya.”

Professor John Akama, Vice Chancellor of Kisii University, said: “I would like to most sincerely thank The University of Manchester, for the strategic role it has played in the conceptualisation and realisation of the Centre of Excellence in Healthcare Education and Training.  This will be a transformative project for the people of Western Kenya and Kenya in general.”

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