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Nonetheless there are success stories – such as access to even basic health care. Facilities that do exist
that of Vodafone, Safaricom and M-Pesa. Today, often lack clean water and electricity, and maintenance
M-Pesa is a mobile phone-based money transfer, is poor. There are shortages of healthcare workers,
ÀQDQFLQJ DQG PLFUR ÀQDQFLQJ VHUYLFH WKDW UHDFKHV and few effective referral systems to secondary and
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25 million people in Africa, Asia and Europe. Yet, tertiary care. Governments struggle to sustain public
it began as a pilot project looking at ways to reach KHDOWKFDUH V\VWHPV ÀQDQFLDOO\ ZKLOH SHRSOH ULVN
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“unbanked communities”. Telecoms company, falling into poverty due to the cost of care.
9RGDIRQH DQG LWV .HQ\DQ DIÀOLDWH 6DIDULFRP KDG DQ Against this backdrop, Philips has recently
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idea for the disbursement and repayment of micro- entered into an SDG Partnership Platform with
ÀQDQFH ORDQV YLD PRELOH SKRQHV +RZHYHU WKH SLORW the Government of Kenya and the United Nations
revealed that people really wanted a service which to accelerate access to primary healthcare. More
would allow city dwellers to send home money to widely, Philips aims to address some of the most
relatives in distant locations via phone messages. urgent needs: family planning and antenatal care,
'HVSLWH GRXEWV DERXW LWV YLDELOLW\ DQG ÀQDQFLDO newborn and infant health, basic emergency care,
regulatory issues, the service launched in 2007 mental resilience and health education on commu-
when Kenya’s Central Bank gave permission on an nicable and non-communicable diseases (such as
experimental basis. By meeting its users’ needs and cervical and breast cancer and diabetes). However,
expectations, M-Pesa has since enabled millions of experience shows that single-issue projects often
SHRSOH RQ ORZ LQFRPHV WR DFFHVV EDVLF ÀQDQFLDO fail. What’s needed is a holistic approach that
services, and the business has scaled successfully recognises the inter-related effects of the many
to Tanzania, Democratic Republic of Congo challenges confronting primary care – an insight
(DRC), Mozambique, Lesotho, India, Romania that became one of the starting points for Philips
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and Albania. It has also spurred Safaricom to inte- and its Community Life Centers (CLC).
grate the SDGs (particularly 9, 8, and 10) within its
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corporate strategy. The Community Life Center Platform Ecosystem
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A CLC expands a primary care facility – typically
An On-going Example – How Philips Supports focused on mother and child care – into a commu-
Healthcare Transformation in Africa nity hub, supported by infrastructure and services
Philips is committed to delivering innovation able beyond healthcare alone. In collaboration with busi-
to improve the lives of 3 billion people each year by ness and local organisations, the centre may sell
2025. It also believes that the UN SDGs 3 and 12 drinking water, electricity, solar lighting products
are critical to bettering the health and sustainability and access to the Internet. This improves quality of
of the planet and its people. This led Philips to iden- life for the whole community, creating opportunities
tify a clear issue for its transformative innovation for small business development, sporting and social
efforts – strengthening healthcare at primary level activities, as well as enabling the health facility to
in low-resource settings in Africa and South East generate income to fund itself. Moreover, the CLC
Asia (aligned with SDG 3, Ensure healthy lives and approach is modular so it can adjust to the size of
promote well-being at all ages). And in September population being served, and adapt as lessons are
2017, the company extended its commitment to OHDUQW DQG DGGLWLRQDO QHHGV LGHQWLÀHG
primary and community care by announcing its aim
to improve the lives of an additional 300 million of Initial Projects in Kenya and Further
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people a year by 2025 in underserved communities. Implementation
Such initiatives matter. Seventy percent of Africa’s 3KLOLSV HVWDEOLVKHG WKH ÀUVW WZR &/&V LQ .HQ\D
population still lives in rural areas, frequently without In June 2014, 30,31 a CLC opened in Githurai, (a

Philips is committed to delivering innovation able to
improve the lives of 3 billion people each year by 2025.

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