CONTRIBUTORS
Jarim Elly Omogi Oduor
Project Coordinator
Topistar Karani
Communications Officer
Cardiovascular-metabolic diseases (CMDs), which include ailments such as diabetes, hypertension,
and cardiovascular diseases, have grown to be a serious health concern in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA).
These diseases contribute to a considerable portion of the non-communicable disease (NCD) burden,
with CMDs alone causing approximately 18 million deaths worldwide in 2019.
Despite the growing burden, the healthcare workforce in Africa is not adequately equipped to
manage these conditions. Africa bears 24% of the global disease burden but has only 3% of the
world’s healthcare workers.* The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that the continent
has a shortage of 4.2 million healthcare workers, a number projected to increase to 6.1 million by
2030. This shortage is particularly concerning for CMD management, which requires specialized skills
and knowledge.
Kenya like most countries in SSA, shares a similar outlook for both disease burden and qualified care.
Over 50% of in-patient hospital admissions and 41% of all deaths annually are due to NCDs, with
CMDs taking a major share of these statistics. There is a severe lack of qualified healthcare
professionals in the country who can treat these CMDs.
Acknowledging this gap, the Partnership for Education of Health Professionals (PEP) program seeks
to improve healthcare providers’ (HCPs) ability to prevent and manage CMDs throughout Kenya.
Specifically, PEP aims to improve the management of CMDs in Kenya through research evidence
generation and capacity strengthening. This work targets medical training institutions (MTCs) across
six hubs in Kenya’s Nairobi, Mombasa, Embu, Kisumu, Uasin Gishu, and Nakuru counties. These hubs
were selected based on the criteria of infrastructural availability, CMD prevalence, and geographical
balance.
To ensure that aspiring and experienced healthcare professionals are equipped to handle the
complicated requirements of patients with CMDs, the program places a strong emphasis on pre-
service and inservice training for HCPs. The inclusion of online and blended learning methods in MTC
curricula is a crucial aspect of this endeavor. Adopting these contemporary teaching strategies gives
HCPs access to more flexible and accessible learning opportunities as well as up-to-date information
and techniques for managing CMDs. Furthermore, the program emphasizes building research
capacity to make sure that HCPs are not just practitioners but also researchers who add to the
expanding library of information on CMDs.
PEP aims to bridge the gap between the healthcare system’s ability to respond to the increasing
prevalence of CMDs and providing HCPs with the resources and training necessary to manage them
successfully. In addition to enhancing healthcare providers’ skills, PEP also addresses the need for
better patient satisfaction in CMD care. In Kenya, only 50.7% of patients are satisfied with the quality
of healthcare services they receive, highlighting a significant area for improvement.* By
strengthening the training of healthcare providers, the program aims to improve patient outcomes
and increase satisfaction with CMD services.
The PEP program has the potential to change Kenya’s healthcare system in the long run by lowering
the financial burden of CMDs, increasing patient outcomes, and more. Through research,
contemporary learning methods, and improved training, the program is contributing to the
development of a strong healthcare workforce that can handle the nation’s rising cardiometabolic
disease burden.
A collaborative project, PEP is funded by the Novo Nordisk Foundation, and its implementation is led
by the APHRC together with partners: the Kenya Ministry of Health (MoH), Christian Health
Association of Kenya (CHAK), Kenya Conference of Catholic Bishops (KCCB), Non-communicable
Disease Alliance of Kenya (NCDAK), Kenya Medical Training College (KMTC) and Amref Health Africa.
APHRC is spearheading all the research activities and capacity-strengthening efforts of MTCs, faculty,
and other PEP Kenya partners. In 2024, APHRC led the development of a joint work plan, review of a
curriculum on CMDs, and recruited a project coordinator. Additionally, APHRC collected baseline
data across 20 counties among patients, heads of departments (HoDs), clinical mentors, health
facility in charges, and faculty members in medical training colleges.
*Some of the data and statistics in this blog have been derived from the PEP Study Protocol, 2024