Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) and project donor follow up visit to Makueni Partnership for Primary Care

In July 2018, His Excellency the Governor of Makueni County, Prof. Kivutha Kibwana launched the Partnership for Primary Care (P4PC) pilot in Makueni County. The project was launched with the aim of improving supply and demand of primary health care services through a financially sustainable and bankable business model. The approach in this public-private partnership (PPP) is through a concession where the private sector (Amref Enterprises Ltd), manages Makueni County’s public primary health care system.

Progress to date includes infrastructural upgrade of facilities, installation of equipment (Laboratory, diagnostic and solar power, deployment of clinical staff, training on the Kenya Quality Model for Health (KQMH) package by the Ministry of Health, strengthened supply chain system, supply and delivery of IT equipment, training of clinical staff on NHIF procedures and increased NHIF registrations by CHWs through Amref’s M-JALI mobile platform.

Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) Agenda in Makueni County

Owing to these great achievements, NL Works, an organisation mandated by the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) to undertake International Project Development, visited the Makueni P4PC team in order to assess the project progress to date. The team from NL Works was accompanied by counterparts from NL.In.Business, who also work with the Dutch MOFA in development of international projects. The Dutch Embassy, FMO Bank, Sustainable Development Goals Platform, Rebel Group, Kenya Commercial Bank Capital, Kenya Medical Supplies Agency and National Health Insurance Fund were also present alongside Amref and Philips to witness the initial project outcomes and further discussions on scale-up.

The delegation started by visiting Emali Model Health Centre, the only level 3 facility amongst the pilots and was impressed by the infrastructural improvements as well as the enthusiasm by both facility staff and the community unit. It was noted that the facility visits had since improved by 50% compared to the same reporting period last year. NHIF uptake through Amref’s M-JALI platform was also getting positive reception from both the community and the local leadership.

The team was also hosted to a boardroom meeting by Makueni Deputy Governor, Her Excellency Hon. Adelina Mwau. Ho.n Mwau re-affirmed the Governor’s commitment to the scale up of the project and reiterated that the feedback she needed most urgently from her County representatives would be “When!” the project needs to start, as the project remains an urgent agenda to her Government. Other top-ranking County Officials who accompanied the Deputy Governor included the County Executive Committee Member for Health Dr Andrew Mulwa, the County Director of Health Dr Steven Ndolo and the County Head of Health Promotions Dr Cyrus Matheka.

On 12 February, the Rebel Group chaired a joint working session between Amref, Philips and the County on a possible funding formula for the scaling phase of the project. Between 13 and 15^th February, other related meetings were also held separately with NHIF Ag CEO, KCB Capital Managing Director, IKM lawyers, Danida and the Dutch Embassy.

A PPP workshop will be conducted by the PPP Unit at the National Treasury on the 22 February 2019. It is believed that the outcome of this workshop will give a green light for the legal and regulatory framework within which a Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) can be formed by the partnership for scaling the Makueni PPP to the targeted 225 primary health care facilities.