The AKDN health system has been creating hospitals, clinics and community health programmes in East Africa for over 80 years. These are hubs for AKDN’s expanding East Africa Integrated Health System, which provides high-quality health coverage, at affordable prices, to an economically diverse population. AKDN works to transform healthcare systems in three areas: service delivery, education and research.
900,000
Over 900,000 patient visits per year at AKDN’s health facilities in Kenya
AKDN / Lucas Cuervo Moura
AKDN’s health facilities in Kenya record more than 900,000 patient visits annually.
The Aga Khan University Hospital, Nairobi (AKUH-N), the first multi-racial hospital in Kenya, is a 300-bed tertiary and teaching hospital. It is a not-for-profit institution that is financially self-sustaining. It was the first hospital in the region to be accredited by the US-based Joint Commission International and its clinical laboratory was the first hospital-based clinical laboratory in Kenya to be accredited by the US-based College of American Pathologists. It is an important referral centre for East Africa. AKUH-N is the most comprehensive private hospital in East Africa, with over 60 services and a Heart and Cancer Centre that provides specialist cancer care and interventional cardiac and open heart surgical care.
AKHS operates high-quality ISO 9001-certified hospitals in Mombasa and Kisumu, including state-of-the-art diagnostic services.
AKDN operates more than 70 outreach health centres that are closely linked to the three hospitals in a hub-and-spokes model. This continuum of healthcare activities from primary to tertiary care forms the basis of an integrated health system that ensures the delivery of timely, high-quality services in the right setting. It is supported by telemedicine systems enabling medical staff to communicate with each other and with patients, and to learn remotely.
AKDN’s Community Health Department has pioneered the establishment of primary healthcare practice in Kenya. It works in partnership with community-based health and social organisations, NGOs and the Ministry of Health to provide training and technical support from the dispensary level to the national level. The Community Health Department has also established community units and promotes safe motherhood by improving maternal and child health services in 14 selected government health facilities, giving service access to a population of over 150,000 in several sub-counties of Coast Province. Lessons learnt on best practices are disseminated nationally for replication in other areas.
The Aga Khan Foundation (AKF) has been working to strengthen the structural and technical capacity of the public and private health delivery system to respond to the COVID-19 pandemic. By gathering and disseminating accurate information about COVID-19, AKF is promoting preventive measures and minimising beliefs that could escalate infections or perpetuate abuse against the vulnerable.
AKDN / Christopher Wilton-Steer
AKU educates nurses and specialist physicians in Kenya, nurturing in them a sense of social responsibility and a commitment to serving their communities.
The School of Nursing and Midwifery offers working nurses a Post-RN Bachelor of Science in Nursing and a Post-RM Bachelor of Science in Midwifery, allowing them to continue working while pursuing professional development. It also offers a Master of Science in Advanced Practice Nursing and a Master of Science in Advanced Practice Midwifery. The overwhelming majority of graduates have stayed in Kenya. To date, more than 1,100 nurses have graduated from AKU in Kenya.
The Medical College’s Postgraduate Medical Education programme trains specialist physicians in internal medicine, surgery, anaesthesiology, paediatrics, obstetrics and gynaecology, family medicine, radiology and pathology. It also offers fellowship training in cardiology, cardiac surgery, infectious diseases, neonatology and paediatric neurology. Nearly 250 physicians have completed advanced training at AKU in Kenya.
The Institute for Human Development is working to make a significant contribution in the field of early child development, recognising the potential of investments in the early years to deliver high impact at low cost in the developing world.