Amref Health Africa in Kenya Partners with Sisu Global Health and Surgipharm to improve access to blood

Nairobi, Kenya, 17 September 2019 – Amref Health Africa in Kenya, Sisu Global Health and Surgipharm have today unveiled a partnership to improve access to blood and safer surgical outcomes during medical missions and emergencies in Kenya.

The partnership is aimed at increasing blood access in all hospitals to reduce internal bleeding-related deaths through the adoption of Hemafuse^TM, an innovative medical device that allows clinicians to reuse a patient’s own blood gathered from internal bleeding.

This initiative comes in the wake of the recent move by the US President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) to stop its annual funding of KShs2 billion for blood collection and testing services in Kenya. This development comes at a time when the country is facing a chronic shortage of blood as the collection of blood has been plagued by the lack of funds for screening tools and human resources to collect and store blood.

“Blood access is critical to safe surgery. Standard surgical practices require two units of blood on-hand before surgery commences, but there is a severe shortage of blood in the country. Surgeries may be delayed or not performed due to a lack of blood, resulting in increased illness and death. This partnership will make use of an innovative solution that will ensure that patients with internal bleeding have a chance of survival,” said Amref Health Africa in Kenya’s Country Director, Dr Meshack Ndirangu.

Hemafuse^TM, a product by Sisu Global Health, can filter and pump blood from an internal haemorrhage into a blood bag, allowing it to be re-transfused to the same patient. The device can also be reused up to 25 times. This provides an alternative to donor blood.

“It is inspiring to see Hemafuse used to save lives. With this partnership with Kenya, we look forward to enabling thousands of more clinicians to save more lives across the country. The work we are doing is incredibly important and we are proud to have such a strong partnership with Amref to provide access to blood across Kenya,” said Sajju Jain, Chief Operating Officer at Sisu Global Health.

Speaking at the event, Mr Rakesh Vinayak, Director-Sales & Marketing at Surgipharm, said that the pharmaceutical industry has a critical role to play in finding effective and sustainable solutions to providing access to today’s most pressing health concerns. “Surgipharm has a highly specialised and experienced management team and our relationships with different players in Kenya’s health sector complements and strengthens our existing skillset in logistics across the country. We are excited about the prospects that this partnership brings.”

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Notes to editors

About Amref Health Africa in Kenya: Amref Health Africa is a non-governmental organization headquartered in Nairobi, Kenya and established in 1957. Our vision is Lasting Health Change in Kenya. Amref Health Africa in Kenya has operations in all 47 counties in the country. Building on six decades of experience, working closely with communities, county and national governments, and other stakeholders, we provide a broad range of services designed to strengthen health systems.

In line with the Amref Health Africa in Kenya’s Strategic Plan (2018-2022), our solutions are geared towards supporting a devolved system of government, addressing the needs of vulnerable populations, especially women, children, and youth, and addressing the burden of infectious diseases, non-communicable diseases and maternal mortality. The strategy is aligned to the Constitution of Kenya and the country’s Vision 2030. It seeks to support and spur Kenya’s movement towards attainment of the Sustainable Development Goals and is implemented under three pillars: training, health service delivery and healthcare financing. For more information on Amref’s work, please visit our website, https://amref.org/kenya/

About Sisu Global Health: Sisu Global is a corporation headquartered in Baltimore, Maryland. We envision a world where medical technology enables access to healthcare in every community. Right now, 80% of the world’s medical devices are designed for 10% of the world’s population. Sisu aims to change this statistic by designing and scaling medical devices made specifically for the global market. Sisu is the manufacturer of goods including the HEMAFUSE™ System. The HEMAFUSE™ is a device that can support the donor blood ecosystem in Kenya and beyond, by providing an option for clinicians to salvage and recycle a patient’s own blood in cases of internal bleeding. This immediate access to blood can shorten the wait time to perform surgery, increase hospital efficiency and provide access to blood where there may be no other option.

Sisu Global’s work has received numerous features such as CBS 60 Minutes, USA Today, Smithsonian.com and awards from GE Healthcare, USAID, the Gates Foundation, and many others. Sisu has presented at scientific and international conferences across the globe.  For more information, please visit our website, https://sisuglobal.health

About Surgipharm Limited: Surgipharm Limited, your reliable partner in healthcare, was founded in 1985 with the objective of establishing a country wide network of pharmaceutical marketing and distribution. Today, Surgipharm through its branches in Nairobi and Mombasa, with a highly motivated team of 425 is one of the most efficient and reliable pharmaceutical distribution companies in Kenya.

Surgipharm’s mission is to effectively market and distribute quality pharmaceutical, medical, surgical, laboratory diagnostic and consumer care products that meet important health needs in East Africa, with the first responsibility towards healthcare providers and patients. For more information, please contact info@surgipharm.com or call +254 (020) 3749304.

For more information, materials and content, kindly contact:

Janice Njoroge Janice.njoroge@amref.org

Sisu Communications Team, sisu@newmark-imc.com