Philips inaugurates Africa’s first Community Life Center aimed at strengthening primary health care and enabling community development
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Monday, October 6, 2014
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danielmjema.blogspot.com
NAIROBI, Kenya, October 6, 2014/ -- Royal Philips (AEX: PHIA, NYSE: PHG) (http://www.philips.com)
has opened its first Community Life Center in Kenya, an integrated
solution for primary health care and service facilities that provides
community development from a health care, lighting and healthy living
perspective.
Developed by the Philips Africa Innovation Hub (http://goo.gl/2bnujk)
and introduced in collaboration with the County Government of Kiambu in
Kenya, the Community Life Center (located at the Githurai Lang’ata
Health Center in Kiambu County) is a proof of concept that provides
access to health care and at the same time enables social, educational
and commercial activities after dusk and enhances safety and security of
the neighborhood. An important focus of the Community Life Centers is
to address infant mortality and improve maternal health, linked to the
current UN Millennium Development Goals 4 and 5 (MDGs) (http://www.un.org/
Addressing a critical need: Strengthening the health care system at primary level Improving
access to primary health care is a key challenge across Africa.
Primary
health facilities in most parts of the continent are not able to offer
basic quality services to local communities for a combination of reasons
ranging from unavailability of qualified health care workers to lack of
electricity, water and basic health care technology.
As a consequence,
many people do not have access to adequate health care near their homes
and are compelled to bypass the primary and secondary levels of care,
confronting hospitals with more patients than they can handle.
The
Philips Community Life Center goes beyond health care by turning a
health facility into a community hub where technology is bundled with
services. The technology package includes solar power (for a reliable
and clean energy supply), efficient and durable indoor and outdoor
LED-lighting (enabling extended opening hours and providing security to
patients and staff), health care equipment (to enable patient
monitoring, diagnosis and triage), laboratory equipment (especially for
antenatal care tests), refrigeration (preventing spoiling of vaccines),
IT-solutions (storage of patient data) and water supply and purification
(preventing waterborne diseases).
Enabling community development
Philips
involves community members in the assessment and design of the
Community Life Center in order to create ownership. The solution is
tailored to the needs of the facility and the community. Philips trains
the staff and mobilizes the community to make use of the improved
services of the facility. The Community Life Center serves as a
community hub where, in addition to health services, the local community
members can buy clean water and sustainable products like Philips’
smokeless cookstoves and home solar lighting products, and benefit from
the Philips solar-powered LED outdoor lighting that illuminates the area
at night.
“Philips
is a leading technology company in health and well-being and our vision
is to improve people’s lives through meaningful innovation”, said JJ
van Dongen, CEO Philips Africa. “Today the population growth is highest
in emerging markets like Africa and innovation can help drive
sustainable solutions that bridge the divide between the privileged and
lesser privileged sections of society and improve the quality of life at
all levels. With the first Community Life Center, we have introduced a
new value delivery model and our ambition is to introduce this solution
across Africa to drastically improve access to primary health care.”
Philips
implemented the first phase of the Community Life Center solution in
June 2014. A new maternity building was inaugurated containing a Philips
ClearVue 650 Ultrasound (http://www.philips.com/
“Our
partnership with Philips comes at a time when the County has a high
incidence of infant and maternal mortality resulting from preventable
causes and lack of medical facilities”, states H.E William Kabogo,
Governor of Kiambu County. “With Philips contributing towards solar
energy solutions and state-of-the-art equipment, the County Government
was able to focus on the construction of the infrastructure and hiring
new staff. This co-operation is reflective of the kind of partnerships
we seek to participate in with the private sector that results in
uplifting the lives of our communities.”
Habari Zingine
Mjulishe Mwenzako
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