It was an action-packed agenda for six of our Kenyan partners visiting Cambridge last week as part of the CGHP-supported Kakamega-Cambridge Health Partnership that focuses on antimicrobial stewardship, maternal and newborn care and quality improvement.
Health partnerships are founded upon reciprocal learning and development and the visit was a fantastic opportunity to share ideas and experience. The Kenyans met with senior Cambridge University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust (CUH) colleagues, attended ward rounds and multidisciplinary team meetings, and even found time to join a dinner with CGHP’s incoming and outgoing global heath fellows.
The Kenyan delegation comprised Dr Benard Wesonga, Minister of Health, Kakamega County and consultant lecturer at Masinde Muliro University (MMUST); Dr Donald Kokonya, co-lead for the Global Health Workforce Programme project, consultant psychiatrist, lecturer and former Dean of the Medical School at MMUST; Dr Anthony Sifuna, co-lead for the AMS project, lecturer and Dean of the MMUST Medical School; Dr Babra Murila, pharmacist and former Acting Medical Superintendent at Kakamega County Teaching and Referral Hospital (KCTRH); Dr Kevin Oyula, pharmacist and Head of Quality Improvement (QI) for Kakamega County, and Hellen Odeny, Deputy Nursing Officer Reproductive and Maternal Health at KCTRH.
The Kenyans kicked off the week with meetings with senior CUH staff including Dr Susan Broster, Dr Ashley Shaw, Dr Theodore Gouliouris, Reem Santos and Christine Moody to discuss topics including the strategic management of AMS and the importance of working as a multidisciplinary team. Reciprocal learning is key to successful health partnerships, and it was noted that the Kampala-Cambridge Health Partnership helped shaped part of CUH’s response during the COVID pandemic, as well as the value of frugal innovations to best utilise available resources. The team were able to get a feel for CUH’s antimicrobial stewardship practices by joining multidisciplinary team meetings and ward rounds with pharmacy and microbiology colleagues later in the week.
A particular highlight for some of the Kenyans was an observational tour of The Rosie Hospital to explore its facilities and services. They discussed the hospital’s dedication to woman-centred care, which emphasises comfort and individualised support, before visiting maternity wards on the upper levels of the hospital to talk about the management of postpartum haemorrhage and the additional services The Rosie offers to support women. The team also spent time with colleagues from the University of Cambridge and CUH to talk about the educational aspects of the Global Health Workforce Programme (GHWP) project across the maternity and newborn care teams in Kakamega County and how this work will further help to reduce maternal and neonatal mortality rates.
Continuous quality improvement is the focus of the GHWP project and members of the Kakamega team were able to shadow much of CUH’s improvement coach programme. This will support delivery of an in-person improvement coach programme in November 2024 in Kakamega County and Dr Kevin Oyula and Hellen Odeny will be part of the Kakamega faculty delivering the quality improvement (QI) programmes beyond the term of the project, helping to build sustainable QI capability and capacity across the county.
Dr Benard Wesonga and Dr Kevin Oyula also had chance to learn about CUH’s You Made a Difference staff recognition scheme, and consider how they could implement something similar at KCTRH. This will help the sustainability of the project and has been highlighted by the Tropical Health and Education Trust (THET) as an excellent example of supporting longer-term staff wellbeing and recognition.
The end of the week saw a return to high level meetings, and the opportunity to discuss how to further strengthen the Kakamega-Cambridge partnership with CUH colleagues including CUH chair Dr Mike More, deputy CEO Nicola Ayton, director of strategy Jude Simpson, CUH visiting fellow in global health Debbie Morgan and interim chair of CGHP, Dr Mike Knapton. Benefits for our collective patients, colleagues and organisations were discussed, including how looking to new models of care in low- and middle-income countries can support the Trust with its current challenges and the links to the recent NHS review led by Lord Darzi. Dr Wesonga reflected on the importance of the Kakamega-Cambridge Health Partnership at a political level in Kenya.
There was just enough time left for the team to attend a Global Health Fellowship dinner at Wolfson College, University of Cambridge, where they met with outgoing and incoming global health fellows, as well as their supervisors, Dr Mike Knapton, and NHS England East of England Regional Postgraduate Dean Professor Bill Irish.
Funding of the Commonwealth Partnerships for AMS (CwPAMS) project is via the Department of Health and Social Care’s (DHSC) Fleming Fund, managed by the Tropical Health and Education Trust (THET) and the Commonwealth Pharmacists Association. Funding of the Global Health Workforce Programme (GHWP) is from the DHSC and managed by THET.
Find out how you can contribute to the global health partnerships that CGHP supports or book your place at our upcoming 4th East of England Global Health Conference.
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