The Abraaj Group and the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC), have signed a Memorandum of Understanding to provide education, primary care interventions and more complex treatment for NCDs, communicable diseases and mother/child healthcare.

The partnership will build a trusted referral pathway that ensures patients from the IFRC network can access quality and affordable treatment options in the Abraaj Growth Markets Health Fund (AGHF) network. 

It will also provide patients from AGHF hospitals with quality follow up care within the community setting. 

Arif Naqvi, Founder and Group CEO at The Abraaj Group, said: “Our partnership with IFRC demonstrates our continued belief in the integral role that private capital plays in moving the needle to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals. The delivery of accessible healthcare to low and middle-income families in growth markets is an important step in the development of these markets. This MoU serves as an opportunity to create a platform that will increase access to NCD education and prevention to improve the lives of hundreds of thousands.” 

According to Naqvi, the partnership has started in Nairobi but has the capacity to expand into communities across Sub-Saharan Africa and into South Asia. 

“The scale and ambition we have jointly envisaged is critical in order to positively impact health outcomes and give us a real opportunity to deliver the SDG goals,” he said. 

The partnership resulted from a shared commitment to ensure local communities are provided with accessible healthcare services and education as well as early intervention for NCDs. 

The collaboration will build on the IFRC’s role as an auxiliary government provider of prevention, disaster and response services, alongside Abraaj’s expertise in delivering accessible, affordable quality care through a network of hospitals and clinics.

Elhadj As Sy, Secretary General at The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, said: “The IFRC welcomes a unique opportunity to work in partnership with Abraaj and other corporate actors to build a better, more ethical world. If we are to fund the mammoth task of achieving the Sustainable Development Goals – and truly travel ‘the last mile’ to reach the most vulnerable people – we need to mobilize the corporate sector.” 

“It’s a two-way partnership: business development requires a stable, safe and healthy community – and those communities need business growth. IFRC’s new partnership with Abraaj represents this sort of shared value enterprise. The IFRC is the ultimate local actor, trusted by communities and with access to match. We are pleased to work with the right corporate partners to meet the healthcare SDGs.”

AGHF brings together a range of partners from healthcare technology companies, foundations, development financing institutions and institutional investors to fundamentally address poor healthcare outcomes in Sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia. AGHF‘s network currently comprises of 2,600 hospital beds, 24 diagnostic units and 17 primary care clinics that deliver healthcare services to more than 3 million patients per year.