Aga Khan gets Sh950 million German grant for Covid jabs – Business Daily
Aga Khan Hospital in Mombasa. PHOTO | WACHIRA MWANGI | NMG
The Aga Khan hospitals have received Sh950 million grant from the German government to boost the Covid-19 vaccination campaign in East Africa and support the public health system.
The grant was offered by the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) through the German Development Bank (KfW) to the Aga Khan University Hospital, Nairobi (AKUH,N) and the Aga Khan Health Services, East Africa.
The grant will enable AKUH,N and the Aga Khan hospitals in Kisumu, Mombasa and Dar es Salaam to increase access to Covid-19 vaccination through mobile campaigns and donations of relevant vaccine infrastructure to the public health system.
“The German government has committed additional funds to its Partners to respond to the Covid-19 pandemic. KfW has a longstanding partnership with the Aga Khan University in East Africa,” said Jens Bessai, head of division, KfW Development Bank in a statement.
“We are, therefore, delighted that, thanks to this cooperation, we will jointly facilitate this project to expand access to the vaccines in the region.”
Kenya plans to vaccinate 27.8 million people and has been acquiring doses of vaccines from Pfizer and Johnson and Johnson to supplement the AstraZeneca vaccines.
Kenya has administered 20.9 million Covid-19 vaccine doses (partially and fully in part), the Ministry of Health said on Sunday in an update.
However, the vaccination initiative has been slowed down by the lifting of Covid-19 restrictions.
Several countries across East Africa have eased pandemic-linked restrictions and relaxed rules related to masking and quarantines, even as cases rise in some regions in the rest of the world.
Kenya eased Covid-19 measures, including the wearing of face masks in public, after sustaining less than one percent case rate for months.
The German grant will also support training for health, media and communication professionals in the region.
The Aga Khan University’s School of Nursing and Midwifery and the Graduate School of Media and Communications will conduct the training.
“Throughout the pandemic, we have partnered with the governments of Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania in various ways and this grant will ensure that we can increase our support to the people of East Africa,” said Aga Khan University president and vice-chancellor Sulaiman Shahabuddin.
This is the second grant that the German government has offered to AKUH,N and the Aga Khan Hospitals in East Africa to support the Covid-19 response.
In 2020, the hospitals received Sh720 million for the purchase and distribution to the public health system of Personal Protective Equipment and testing kits.
The grant also catered for the cost of care to Covid-19 patients who could not afford to pay for the care as well as enhanced critical care infrastructure in the Aga Khan hospitals.
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