• The Embassy of Japan saYS the agreement covers healthcare and wellness under the Africa Health and Wellbeing Initiative.
• Outgoing Japan Ambassador to Kenya Ryoichi Horie says the MoC is an example of how the two states can work together towards shared goals
Image: MoH
Kenya and Japan have signed a Memorandum of Cooperation in healthcare after three years of negotiations.
The signatories of the MoC were the Office of Healthcare Policy, the Cabinet Secretariat of Japan, the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare of Japan and Kenya’s Ministry of Health.
The Embassy of Japan said the agreement covers healthcare and wellness under the Africa Health and Wellbeing Initiative.
Outgoing Japan Ambassador to Kenya Ryoichi Horie said the MoC is an example of how the two states can work together towards shared goals.
“I am sure the MoC will deepen the partnership between Japan and Kenya in the health sector and take it to the next level. Japan will continue to cooperate with Kenya bilaterally and multilaterally to improve the public health system and the services across the country,” Ambassador Ryoichi said on Tuesday.
Ambassador Ryoichi and Health CS Mutahi Kagwe signed the deal at Afya House.
CS Kagwe said Japan's support for Kenya has remained steadfast, even during Covid-19 pandemic.
“The Ministry of Health through Kemri received donations of testing kits from Jica [Japan International Cooperation Agency], which helped us to monitor the magnitude of the pandemic and informed timely decisions by the ministry,” Kagwe said.
Japan said the initiative aims at establishing a mechanism to create vibrant and healthy societies for long and productive lives through enriching necessary healthcare services.
The initiative is also expected to contribute to the attainment of Kenya’s universal health coverage, a pillar in President Uhuru Kenyatta’s Big Four agenda.
The embassy said the deal seeks to offer a platform for Japan to collaborate and partner with African states in promoting healthcare-related industries for establishment of medical systems in the respective countries.
It also aims at establishing new and sustainable healthcare systems in African countries that focus on disease prevention to minimize medical expenses.
“All this would draw on Japan’s experience in the field of healthcare and technologies including technology transfers on a commercial basis,” it said.
Japan proposed the “Africa Health and Wellbeing Initiative” in the run-up to the seventh Tokyo International Conference on African Development (Ticad7) in Yokohama, Japan in August 2019 for Africa and Asia.
Kagwe said the implementation of the MoC will open further areas of cooperation, including refocusing on primary healthcare, “which is the platform for achieving UHC, strengthening cooperation for prevention, early detection and management of communicable and NCDs, among others.
Recent Japan-Kenya cooperation in health has been strengthening the sector under the Africa and Health and Wellbeing Initiative, health sector policy loan for the attainment of UHC, the secondment of a Japanese expert as UHC adviser in the Ministry of Health and the provision of medical equipment.
Japan supported Kenya’s response to Covid-19 by providing 125,000 PCR test kits and epidemic preventive smart robots, and capacity strengthening of the cold chain as well as the development of human resource and transfer of technologies.
Kagwe said Kenya and Japan have a long-standing relationship that has spanned over a couple of decades.
“The climax of this relationship was notably the first Tokyo International Conference on African Development to be held outside Japan in 2016 where Kenya was the host,” he said.