Winners of the Second Quality Healthcare Kenyan Awards Announced

Nairobi, 8 April 2021: The Quality Health Kenyan Awards (QHKA) has announced the winners of its second edition at a virtual awards ceremony.

The winners comprise of selected hospitals, institutions, counties and individuals from across the country who have been recognised for their outstanding performance, contributions and achievement in improving quality of healthcare in Kenya.

The first of its kind in Kenya, QHKA seeks to award and honour excellence and innovation in the health sector for providing quality patient-centred care. The initiative takes a health systems strengthening approach to improve standards of health service delivery among health professionals by recognising outstanding performance, fostering innovation and the use of information technology and sharing of best practices.

“We have witnessed wide disparities in the quality of services delivered between public and private institutions of similar categorization across counties. I am glad to join the QHKA as we recognise and honour the individuals and organisations who even amidst the COVID-19 pandemic have managed to maintain and improve the quality of standards in the delivery of health services,” said Hon Mutahi Kagwe, the Cabinet Secretary for Health in Kenya.

In his remarks, Dr Patrick Amoth, the Director General at the Ministry of Health urged all counties to regularly monitor the performance of the health sector and address any emerging gaps to meet the high expectations among citizens reiterating that access to health is the right of every Kenyan as enshrined in the Kenya Constitution 2010.”

QHKA is a brainchild of Zawadi Brand Solutions Limited (ZBS Ltd) and has been working in partnership with the Ministry of Health and Amref Health Africa in Kenya to acknowledge exceptional performance and highlight impact of these contributions on the Kenyan health sector.

“Quality healthcare is an issue of social justice and human rights; failing to deliver healthcare services that improve the desired health outcomes for individuals and populations inhibits progress towards a more equitable and just society,’’ said Grace Ndegwa, Director and Co-founder of the Quality Healthcare Kenyan Awards.

“We set out to strengthen the quality of healthcare in Kenya, which is a key strategy to achieve better health outcomes by promoting a culture of continuous quality improvement and adherence to quality assessments. Though this is not a silver bullet to the problems ailing the sector, it is a step in the right direction towards improving the standards of service delivery.” she said.

Dr Meshack Ndirangu, Country Director, Amref Health Africa in Kenya said,”There is an urgent need to build resilience in our health system. A resilient health system is able to continue delivering quality health services despite various shocks. Quality is a core pillar of Universal Health Coverage (UHC).”

UNFPA Kenya Country Representative, Dr Ademola Olajide highlighted the need of improving standards of health service delivery saying, “We will continue to work with the range of stakeholders

and partners to continue to raise the bar, to ensure that women, girls and everybody in society gets the quality of services they deserve.”

The QHKA support supported by various partners and sponsors including Smile Train Africa, United Nation Population Fund (UNFPA), SafeCare, Safaricom and Dymind.

The Awards had 17 flagship categories – three people choice ones open for voting by the public and 14 general ones, which were open to individuals and organizations in the health sector. A quality assessment using a scorecard derived from Kenya Quality Model for Health (KQMH) were used for Health facilities.

The Winners of 2021 Quality Awards for Excellence in Healthcare Quality are:

1. Award of Excellence in Improving Access to Primary Care services – Shining Hope For Communities (SHOFCO)

2. Award of Excellence in Advancing Maternal and Child Health – Kisumu Medical and Education Trust (KMET)

3. Health Facility Innovation Project of the Year – Lifecare Hospitals – Bungoma

4. Student Innovation Project of the Year – Stephen Odhiambo Ogweno

5. Lifetime Achievement Award – Dr. Gianfranco Morino

6. Use of Information Technology to improve Patient Care – Access Afya – Akiba ya Roho

7. Best Use of Social Media in Healthcare – Population Services Kenya

8. Award of Excellence in Improving Access to Essential Medicines and Health Products – The Nairobi Hospital

9. Healthcare Financing Innovation Award – Mamaprime – Flexitech group

10. Health Leadership Award – Nasibo Sarbo

11. County with the best Managed Healthcare – Mombasa County

12. Award of Excellence in Response to COVID-19 – The Nairobi Hospital

People’s Choice Category

1. Private Hospital of Choice – Gertrudes Children Hospital

2. Public Hospital of Choice – Makindu Sub County Hospital

3. Faith Based/Mission Hospital of Choice – Kijabe (AIC) Hospital

Notes to Editors

Quality Healthcare Kenyan Awards (QHKA) QHKA an initiative of ZBS Ltd was conceptualized in 2017 by a Health Systems Manager and a General Practitioner. ZBS Ltd is a healthcare consultancy company dedicated to advancing health in the region for better health outcomes through highly innovative and responsive initiatives that improve the functions of the health system. These interventions are geared towards stewardship, human and physical resources, service delivery and also health financing for more effective and inclusive health systems. The Awards seek to showcase impact of the positive contributions on the Kenyan health sector for scalability and sustainability. Health services require quality as a foundation. For this reason, QHKA will honour excellence and innovation in the health sector with a goal of quality patient-centred care.

Amref Health Africa

Amref Health Africa, headquartered in Kenya, is the largest Africa based international non-governmental organisation (NGO) currently running programs in over 35 countries in Africa with lessons learnt over 60 years of engagement with governments, communities and partners to increase sustainable health access in Africa. Amref Health Africa also incorporates programme development, fundraising, partnership, advocacy, monitoring and evaluation, and has offices in Europe and North America as well as subsidiaries: Amref Flying Doctors, Amref Enterprises and the Amref International University.

For more information contact:

Maureen Cherongis

Media and External Relations Officer

Amref Health Africa Maureen.Cherongis@amref.org; +254 721178827

Rosemary Irungu

Project Coordinator

Quality Healthcare Kenyan Awards rosemary@qualityhealthcareawards.com; +254 731060164