Roundtable on Investing in Health: Benefiting from Corporate Engagement in Health in Africa

August 29, 2016
Nairobi, Kenya

The Sixth Tokyo International Conference on African development (TICAD VI) was held in Africa for the first time in 2016. In line with one of the goals of TICAD VI—to increase Japanese private investment in Africa—a large number of corporate representatives attended the programs in Nairobi. As an increasing number of Japanese corporations are investing in Africa, they have become increasingly aware of the health situation in their prospective host communities and the value that their own businesses can anticipate from investing in the health sector. Investing in health does not need to be limited to companies operating in the health industry. Rather, companies of all types have an opportunity to make contributions to the health field, whether it is through their core competencies, products or services directly contributing to the health field, or employee education and engagement. And companies of all types can benefit from the healthier workforces and markets that grow out of these investments, as well as the good will and heightened understanding of the communities where they are operating.

JCIE and Amref Health Africa—a prominent African NGO working in the field of health throughout Africa—organized a corporate event that targeted the Japanese corporate representatives attending TICAD VI to provide a rare opportunity for them to engage in practical discussions with representatives from Amref and corporations that are already investing in health in Africa, and to accompany Amref health workers to observe first-hand how innovative technologies are employed to improve health in Africa. Following a roundtable discussion that examined why and how corporations benefit from investing in health, participants visited Kibera, Africa’s largest urban slum, where they visited a health clinic and accompanied community health workers on home visits to get a first-hand look at the current situation and models that are being used.

The participants learned about the challenges facing the health sector in Kenya and elsewhere in Africa, particularly the need for more healthcare workers. They also learned about several innovative partnerships attempting to tackle these challenges. For example, a partnership between Amref and the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) is offering management training to hospital executives, whose expertise tends to be in medicine and not in management, so that they can run their hospitals more effectively and efficiently. One speaker talked about lessons being applied from the banking sector to help increase demand for healthcare, and two others presented a training platform using basic cell phone text messaging to train health workers and simultaneously collect data on disease outbreaks and other health trends. One lesson that was repeated throughout the roundtable was the importance of evaluating not just the outputs of these programs but more importantly the impacts that they are having on people’s lives and on economic development. But for businesses that are accustomed to seeing rapid returns on their investments, patience is needed in the health field because there may be a longer lag time between investments and any discernable impact.

Introduction

Desta Lakew, Amref Health Africa
Susan Hubbard, JCIE/USA

High-Level Overview of Health Development in Africa and Overview of Amref Health Africa

Dr. Gitahi Githinji, Amref Health Africa

Overview of Health Development Challenges & Opportunities in Kenya

Dr. Meshack Ndirangu, Amref Health Africa

Brief Comments of Japanese Corporations’ Work in Africa, Interest in Health Sector Interest & Expectations for the Roundtable

Amref Health Africa Partnership with JICA
Dr. Peter Ngatia, Amref Health Africa

Brief Comments & Supporting Health Sector through ICT Solutions

Graham Shaw, British Chamber of Commerce

Building Capacity in Health Development

Dr. Bola Tafawa, Equity Bank

Investing in and Evaluating Social Impact of SME’s

Duncan Onyango, Acumen East Africa

Health Innovation through Public Private Partnerships

Henry Kilonzo, Safaricom

Demonstration of Technology Platform (LEAP)

Diana Mukami, Amref Health Africa

Facilitated Discussion

Field Visit—to Kibera to see Community Health Volunteers at work in households

ROELOF ASSIES

Philips East Africa

RYO FUJII

DIC Corporation

YUSUKE FUJITA

FujiFilm Middle East

KOJI FURUKI

Toy Factory International

AYA HANAOKA

AfricaScan

JUN HIGUCHI

FujiFilm Middle East

GITAHI GITHINJI

Amref Health Africa

HARUHIKO HIRATE

Takeda Pharmaceutical

SUSAN HUBBARD

JCIE/USA

HIROKI ISHIDA

Asia Africa Investment and Consulting

FRASIA KARUA

Amref Health Africa

HENRY KILONZO

Safaricom

PAULINE KINYANJUI

Kenya Flower Council

DESTA LAKEW

Amref Health Africa

TADAHARU MIYAKOSHI

Toy Factory International

DIANA MUKAMI

Amref Health Africa

NYAKAN MUNYEKI

Timeless Dynamic Services

BETTY MURIUKI

Amref Health Africa

ROSEMARY MUTUNKEI

Yetu Initiative

WILLIAM MWITI

GlaxoSmithKline

MESHACK NDIRANGU

Amref Health Africa

PETER NGATIA

Amref Health Africa

GLADYS NYAMOKAMI OGENDI

Toyota Tsusho East Africa

MIKE ODERA

Tata Foundation

MILICENT OLULO

PharmAccess

DUNCAN ONYANGO

Acumen

GILBERT SAGGIA

Oracle Kenya

TAKANORI SATO

Takeda Pharmaceutical

KASUMI SAWADA

AfricaScan

MATT SAXTON

Management Sciences for Health

GRAHAM SHAW

Wilken Group, British Chamber of Commerce Kenya

AGNES SHIHEMI

Management Sciences for Health

TAMOTSU TADOKORO

Sysmex Corporation

BOLA TAFAWA

Equity Foundation

AMIT THAKKAR

Kenya Healthcare Federation

YOHEI TSUNOSHIDA

Futurebuds International

KEIKO WATANABE

Eiken Chemical

SAMUEL WERU

Amref Health Africa