Inaugural sector meeting for the Dutch Life sciences and Health players in Kenya - Kenya
Inaugural sector meeting for the Dutch Life sciences and Health players in Kenya
On 23rd January, 2024, the embassy hosted Dutch linked organizations in the health sector that are active in Kenya for a breakfast meeting. The objective of the forum included to bring together the health sector players from the Netherlands to share on emerging developments in Kenya’s health sector and to have a better understanding on how the Netherlands can contribute to the country’s UHC Agenda. It also provided an opportunity for the sector players to know each other more and identify areas for synergy and support to one another.
Priorities and Partnerships
The Netherlands is an important player in the local health sector for several years now, both at development co-operation level but also from a private sector health angle. As such, it remains very interesting to Dutch organizations, hence their growing presence in Kenya. It is for this reason that the sector was identified as a priority in the current Multi-Annual Country Strategy (MACS) for the Netherlands to Kenya. Similarly, the sector was selected for implementation of the Combination Approach as contained in the Minister for Foreign Trade and Development Cooperation policy note where synergies will be exploited with regard to maximizing on the benefits that come with use of private sector strengths to address development needs.
In his speech, Ambassador Maarten Brouwer restated the Embassy’s mantra of our strategy: “Sustainable economic growth and leaving no one behind” and emphasized that Life Sciences and Health is central to this goal. “ We do not only aim at growing the role of the Dutch private sector in this sector but also deepening the impact of the interventions , especially with regard to the addressing the poor health outcomes that Kenya is experiencing” he said.
The forum was well attended by commercial and not-for-profit organizations and useful information, both on opportunities and challenges, exchanged. At the end, the participants agreed to have regular engagements.
Watch out for the next session!