The University of Manchester in the United Kingdom on Tuesday, March 14, announced that it was set to launch a Ksh158 billion programme aimed at building six new healthcare campuses in Kenya.
In a statement, the University stated that it would issue licences to the campuses that would offer Medicine, Dentistry, Pharmacy and Nursing programmes.
The universities set to benefit from the programme include Kisii University, Maseno University, Masinde Muliro University, Egerton University, Bomet University and Kibabii University.
According to the UK-based University, the move will help to promote the development of a centre of excellence for healthcare education and training in Western and Central Kenya by the Lake Region Economic Bloc.
Moreover, Professor Keith Brennon, the Vice Dean for Internationalisation at Manchester University stated that the programme was meant to ease the burden associated with an exponential increase in cancer, cardiovascular, respiratory and metabolic diseases in the region.
“That is why establishing an education pipeline that can deliver a modern, flexible and resilient healthcare workforce capable of responding to the rising tide of non-communicable diseases is an urgent priority within Kenya,” Brennan stated.
Additionally, he reiterated a prediction by the World Health Organisation (WHO) that by 2030, Africa will be the only continent to see an increasing deficit in healthcare workers.
“Therefore, developing a resilient and flexible multi-professional health workforce with strong inter-professional working in Kenya and East African Region is so important.
“New models for health education and training based on modern methods, distance learning and competency-based in-service training and assessments need to be explored systematically to drive further changes in Kenya and the wider region,” added Brennan.
At the same time, Prof John Akama, the Vice Chancellor of Kisii University, welcomed the move stating that it would be transformative to the Western Region and Kenya.
“I would like to most sincerely thank the University of Manchester for the strategic role it has played in the conceptualisation and realisation of the centre of excellence in Healthcare Education and Training.
“This will be a transformative project for the people of Western Kenya and Kenya in general,” Akama stated.
The announcement came after Hungary's Óbuda University launched a tech and knowledge hub office in Kenya to support students and organisations willing to study engineering and IT courses.
The University announced on March 7, that it would offer courses including mechatronics engineering, cyber security, computer science engineering and electrical engineering.
The move came after President William Ruto secured Ksh6.2 billion in funding from the Hungarian Government on March 7.
