NextBillion - An Initiative of the William Davidson Institute at the University of Michigan

Friday, August 14, 2015

The global health sector, particularly in the developing countries, faces critical workforce shortages. Africa ranks the lowest in the availability of health personnel. Sub-Saharan Africa is home to 12 percent of the world’s population and bears 25 percent of the world’s burden of diseases, but has only three percent of the world’s health workforce.

To address some of the most critical health challenges in East Africa, GE has announced a series of new commitments with a focus on skills development and capacity creation. The company will launch the new GE Healthcare Skills and Training Institute in Kenya, representing a long-term investment of at least $13 million over the next 10 years. It will also make a $1.7 million GE Foundation grant for Biomedical Equipment Training and Safe Surgery programs in Ethiopia.

Farid Fezoua, President and CEO of GE Healthcare Africa, said that investing in the training and education of healthcare professionals to strengthen capability building is one of the greatest enablers for sustainable healthcare development. GE Healthcare’s education strategy integrates technology and localization in the design and deployment of tailored education solutions.

The GE Healthcare Skills and Training Institute will initially offer biomedical and clinical applications training courses and over the longer-term will be expanded to offer leadership, technical and clinical education courses, with the goal to train over 1,000 healthcare professionals over the next three years. The Kenya training center is part of GE Healthcare’s global commitment to invest over $1 billion in the development and delivery of localized offerings for the healthcare sector by 2020.