As part of its business realignment strategy, leading global energy management experts and manufacturers Royal Philips diversified its investment portfolio, turned to healthcare services, with special focus on Africa.
According to the 123-year old company, under HealthTech, the health services business arm, the company identified oral healthcare, informatics, ultrasound diagnostics, cardiac care and home healthcare as some of the core areas of investment.
Indeed, in the last five years the company has played a significant part in healthcare delivery services in Africa, among them sponsoring the Cape Town to Cairo roadshow, an annual event. This year’s caravan, to be launched on May 11 in Cape Town, South Africa, is themed on reducing child mortality rates and improving maternal health as part of the efforts to strengthen the realization of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) across Africa.
“We have learned an enormous amount, our focus has not wavered, and we will continue to play an integral role in the development of Africa. We are hugely excited about the 2015 roadshow, and we look forward to launching even greater innovations, products and partnerships that precisely address and get to the heart of Africa’s needs,” JJ Van Dongen, Senior Vice President and CEO Philips Africa, is quoted saying.
The 12.000km – four month journey dubbed the C2C, will see the caravan go through eight African states and 11 cities including Nairobi and Addis Ababa in East Africa and the Horn of Africa, respectively. It will end in Cairo in October.
‘Over the past five years the roadshow has championed the UN Millennium Development Goals 4 and 5, registering success in the health sector areas such as Mother and Child care and focus on non-communicable diseases,’ a communiqué issued on May 5, states.
Royal Philips, a multi-billion Dutch company with a background in energy including LED and solar lighting, prioritized its healthcare arm, with emphasis on revitalizing healthcare in Africa by also focusing on clinical education and training of health service providers, with 3,100 personnel across the continent benefitting from the initiatives.
Over the years Africa has engendered slow progress in the realization of the MDGs and it is said that most countries including Uganda will not be able to meet the set UN MDG targets by June this year.
According to the UNDP, by 2013 Uganda had already met two of its 17 targets – halving the number of people living in absolute poverty and achieving debt sustainability – and was on course to meet another eight.
