Bill Gates toured Makueni County to conduct a benchmarking exercise and lay groundwork for future partnerships, according to area governor, Mutula Kilonzo.
Mutula issues a statement on Tuesday, November 15, after meeting the American billionaire.
"We are privileged as a county to have hosted the co-chair of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, Bill Gates.
"It is a trip that we have organized for a while,” Mutula told members of the press.
“The trip had two purposes, First, primary health care, especially in hospitals in Kathonzweni and Wote.
"Secondly, to see how residents of Makueni are using smart farming to combat climate change,” Mutula added.
Bill Gates was particularly interested in how the Mother and Child Hospital in Wote provided residents with quality healthcare despite receiving only 50 per cent support from Kenya Medical Supplies Authority (KEMSA).
“Gates was interested in an innovation we have started in all our health facilities called The Commodity Platform that provides us with all data about our healthcare workers and pharmaceutical drugs in our facilities,” Mutula explained.
“He had a very keen interest in field rate, seeking to know how we cope with the problem of receiving only 50 per cent of what we require from KEMSA and how we plug in the gaps,” Mutula expounded on the benchmarking exercise.
Apart from visiting county health care centres in the region, Gates also visited residents of Makueni to know how they were coping with the ravages of climate change.
“Bill Gates has visited a private farm practicing smart agriculture which he is very passionate about, and he will later speak about effects of climate change and food security,” Mutula told the press.
Mutula speaking on how the county will benefit from the visit, noted that the county had made a presentation for Gate’s consideration.
“We have prepared a presentation on food security, agriculture and value chain and aim to get funding from the Ksh170 billion the foundation has given out towards mitigating adverse effects of climate change,” the governor announced.
