Boehringer Ingelheim, a global pharmaceutical company has launched a new program called ‘In Reach Africa’. This is an initiative with the main aim of facilitating quality and innovative human and animal healthcare access across Africa.
The program is set to commence in Kenya and to expand throughout major African markets including Ghana, Nigeria, Ethiopia, Zambia, Uganda, Mozambique, Tanzania, Zimbabwe and Rwanda.
It involves a range of key elements that aims at adding more value to overall health systems, in an effort to drive access to care, support with the development of innovative health solutions, creating community based partnerships and raising awareness around key disease areas as well as prevention mechanisms.
A series of activities and workshops that are the building blocks of the newly launched program already started in July as for example the ‘Making More Health (MMH) Accelerator program.
This program supports social health entrepreneurs to strengthen and scale their work, by bringing some of the best experiences in social and health innovation as well as global health to improve access across Sub-Saharan Africa. Empowering individuals is a core part of the initiative’s strategy and the fundamental element throughout ‘In Reach Africa’.
MMH is a long-term global initiative driven by Boehringer Ingelheim in partnership with Ashoka, a global non-governmental organization. Through MMH in Kenya, Boehringer Ingelheim and Askoka supported iSikCure, an application developed to improve access to quality care and safe medicine.
“‘In Reach Africa’ shares a vision of driving accessibility, sustainability and innovation through enhancing health systems in Africa by providing an accessible range of medication and healthcare solutions, increasing awareness of key disease priorities through reach and enriching knowledge and education initiatives. In doing so, it is designed to add more value to the socioeconomic structure by working with and supporting low income families on multiple fronts,” said Yew Looi Liew, Head of Corporate Division Prescription Medicine Emerging Markets at Boehringer Ingelheim.
“Accordingly, we need to commit ourselves as an organization to working together with all other healthcare players to build an infrastructure that is sustainable, and one, which can ensure needed therapies are available in even the most remote areas. At Boehringer Ingelheim, we believe that everyone should have access to good health, no matter where they live,” commented Enrique Manzoni, Regional Managing Director – Middle East, Turkey, Africa (META) at Boehringer Ingelheim.
