President Clinton Presents Commitment to Expand Access to Better Training for Frontline Health Workers in Kenya through Locally Designed Technologies

NEW YORK, Sept. 25, 2012 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Today, President Bill Clinton joined Pape Gaye, president and CEO of IntraHealth, on stage at the 2012 Clinton Global Initiative (CGI) Annual Meeting in New York, to present the organization's commitment to expand access to quality training for frontline health workers in Kenya.

IntraHealth's commitment will be met by offering sustainable mobile technologies to support training applications that allow health workers to learn anytime and anywhere. The initiative, which will use a variety of context-specific tools based on e/mLearning (electronic and mobile learning) developed in collaboration with the Government of Kenya and African Medical and Research Foundation (AMREF), holds great promise for equipping Kenyan frontline health workers with the skills and knowledge they need to tackle the complex health challenges facing the Kenyan population. Traditional classroom training programs are often costly, take health workers away from their worksites, and are out of reach for health workers in remote locations. The adaptable mobile elements of this initiative address those problems.

"Our commitment to CGI aligns with IntraHealth's core mission of empowering health workers to better serve communities in need around the world," said Gaye. "In order to succeed, health workers need to have the right skills, motivation, and support, but they also need access to the latest technologies that can help them excel in their work."

To fulfill its CGI Commitment to Action, IntraHealth and its public and private sector partners will design and test an electronic learning program for frontline health workers that is low-cost, is easy to use and adapt, and can interface with other electronic applications already in use in Kenya. A total of 80 frontline health workers will be trained in the initial phase of the initiative, increasing access to quality maternal and child health services for more than 250,000 women and children, and health services in general for more than 400,000 people.

The partnership will use open source and open access technologies that facilitate sharing. This open approach will facilitate wide-scale adoption and rapid scale-up throughout Kenya, engage local Kenyan software developers and work toward expanding the role of women in technology. Key partners with IntraHealth on this initiative include Avallian, iHub, Intel, Medic Mobile, and Safaricom. The initiative will build on IntraHealth's long-standing collaboration with the Government of Kenya, African Medical and Research Foundation (AMREF) and other partners with IntraHealth Kenya programs.

Press kit, background, and photos available at: http://www.intrahealth.org/page/cgi-press-kit

IntraHealth International is a global health nonprofit that champions the critical role of health workers in health and development. For over 30 years, in almost 100 countries, IntraHealth has empowered hundreds of thousands of health workers to better serve communities in need, fostering local solutions to health care challenges by improving health worker performance, strengthening health systems, harnessing technology, and leveraging partnerships. IntraHealth has offices in Chapel Hill, NC, Washington, DC, and 15 countries worldwide. The nonprofit's work is supported and funded by the US Agency for International Development, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, private foundations, corporations, and individuals. Follow IntraHealth on Twitter @intrahealth and Facebook at facebook.com/IntraHealth.

About the Clinton Global Initiative
Established in 2005 by President Bill Clinton, the Clinton Global Initiative (CGI) convenes global leaders to create and implement innovative solutions to the world's most pressing challenges. CGI Annual Meetings have brought together more than 150 heads of state, 20 Nobel Prize laureates, and hundreds of leading CEOs, heads of foundations and NGOs, major philanthropists, and members of the media. To date CGI members have made more than 2,100 commitments, which are already improving the lives of nearly 400 million people in more than 180 countries. When fully funded and implemented, these commitments will be valued at $69.2 billion.

CGI's Annual Meeting is held each September in New York City. CGI also convenes CGI America, a meeting focused on collaborative solutions to economic recovery in the United States, and CGI University, which brings together undergraduate and graduate students to address pressing challenges in their communities or around the world. For more information, visit clintonglobalinitiative.org. Follow CGI on Twitter @ClintonGlobal and Facebook at facebook.com/clintonglobalinitiative.

SOURCE IntraHealth International