6th October, 2011
AMREF launched its Business Plan 2011-2014 at a colourful and well attended event held on September 29 at the Sheraton Hotel in Pretoria, South Africa.
The launch was held during the week of AMREF’s International Board meetings and was attended by board members and AMREF management staff, as well as invited guests from the diplomatic corps, UN bodies, government, community, corporate and media.
The main highlight of the launch was a panel discussion on the topic Africa’s Health Burden: Are Private-Public Partnerships the Answer? Moderated by Mr John Sibi-Okumu, the panel discussion generated a great deal of dialogue as panelists made presentations and engaged with the audience.
View AMREF's Business Plan here
The high-powered panel was made up of Dr Michel Sidibe, the Executive Director of UNAIDS, who was the guest speaker, and who gave the UN’s perspective on Private-Public Partnerships (PPPs); AMREF Board Chair Dr Pascoal Mocumbi, who welcomed guests and gave an overview of AMREF and its work; Ms Reneilwe Machika, Coordinator of ABC Home-Based Care Project in Limpopo, who gave a community perspective of PPPs; Dr Yogan Pillay, Deputy Director General of Strategic Health Programmes in South Africa’s National Department of Health, who spoke from a government viewpoint; Mr Reg Magennis, CEO of Elixir Healthcare Business Consulting, giving the private sector perspective; and AMREF’s Director General Dr Teguest Guerma, who spoke from AMREF’s viewpoint.
Dr Guerma stressed the importance of partnerships in ensuring that sustainable and effective health care and services. While private and public sectors have traditionally been very wary of each other, she said, it was time for them to work together and leverage on each others’ strengths to achieve common goals while gaining shared value from such partnerships. She gave examples of how AMREF is working together with the private and public partners in successful programmes such as the training of nurses through eLearning in Kenya, done in partnership with Accenture and the Government of Kenya, and which is now being replicated in several African countries.
Dr Guerma, together with Dr Sidibe and the other panelists, then launched the Plan in a symbolic gesture of partnership, with all the sectors pledging to work together to implement the plan. Significantly and appropriately, the launch was followed by the signing of a Letter of Understanding between the UNFPA AFRICA regional office and AMREF.
The event was designed to attract media attention to AMREF’s work in South Africa and the rest of the continent, as well as to the new Business Plan. This mission was successfully accomplished, as AMREF received a lot of media coverage before, during and after the launch. AMREF DG Dr Guerma held radio and newspaper interviews with some of South Africa’s leading media houses, and appeared on national television. South Africa Country Director Penina Ochola and Programme Development Manager Dijon Hilzinger-Maas were also interviewed on radio and for print media. The media houses included Business Day, Business Report, Sunday Times/Business Times, Summit TV, SAFM and RSG.
http://www.businessday.co.za/Articles/Content.aspx?id=154789
http://www.timeslive.co.za/sundaytimes/2011/10/02/call-for-sa-to-change-its-health-focus
