Kenya has received a Ksh20 billion donation from a company based in the United Arab Emirates.
The company whose identity was not disclosed donated the funds after an agreement with the Council of Governors.
According to the Chief Executive Officer of the Council of Governors (COG), Mary Mwiiti, the government had received the funds as part of a three-year collaborative programme.
The programme is expected to enhance patient access to healthcare across the country.
“The Council of Governors met a UAE-based company that works in about 63 countries, to deliberate on a new programme aimed at increasing patients' access to health commodities by ensuring last-mile access at the community level, stated Mary Mwiti.
More details provided by the COG explain that the funds will be used to acquire various health commodities including cardiovascular drugs, vaccines and antibiotics among others.
However, more information is yet to unfold on the name of the programme or its roll-out within Kenya.
This collaboration falls on the backdrop of a looming vaccine shortage in the country with Kenyans having been warned of potential disease outbreaks.
On Thursday, the Ministry of Health in a statement noted that while most vaccine stocks were already out, the remaining stock could only last for two to three months.
In its statement, MOH confirmed that the Bacillus Calmette-Guerin (BCG), Oral Polio, and Measles-Rubella were unavailable within government hospitals.
However, the ministry assured Kenyans that it was redistributing the available stocks of the remaining vaccines across counties.
The Ministry of Health’s statement followed a distress call from the Kenya Paediatric Association which called for government intervention in averting the looming crisis.
