Accenture Gives $2.9 Million to African Medical and Research Foundation to Help Train Nurses in Kenya
Gift Includes In-Kind Consulting Services Leveraging Accenture’s Innovative Electronic Learning Capabilities
NEW YORK; June 14, 2005 – Accenture* today announced a US$2.9 million donation to the African Medical and Research Foundation (AMREF) to implement an innovative electronic training program to increase the number of qualified nurses in Kenya.
The donation comprises a cash gift of US$1.7 million by the Accenture Foundation and US$1.2 million of in-kind consulting and related services leveraging Accenture’s unique electronic learning capabilities. The in-kind consulting services includes program management expertise, as well as 14,500 hours of donated time from professionals in Accenture Learning, an Accenture business that provides outsourced learning and training services.
Specifically, Accenture’s financial contribution, coupled with its expertise in the area of electronic learning, will contribute the following:
- Eighty hours of electronic learning training course content and assessments;
- Registration, testing and training services for 32 regional training centers;
- Training for AMREF representatives who will be responsible for training support and proctoring of exams; and
- Help desk support for nurses and administrators.
"The Kenyan Ministry of Health asked AMREF to work in conjunction with the Nursing Council of Kenya to upgrade 26,000 nurses from certificate to diploma level, allowing them to deliver basic health services, as well as manage and treat new and re-emerging diseases such as HIV/AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis" said Dr. Peter Ngatia, PhD, AMREF’s director of learning systems. "With the current shortage of nursing instructors, training 26,000 nurses would take 100 years; by leveraging Accenture’s innovative electronic learning solutions, we are targeting to train the same number in just five years."
Kenya’s social and economic stability is severely threatened, as is much of Africa, by increasing ill-health, particularly the rapid spread of both treatable and non-treatable diseases, such as trachoma and HIV/AIDS. One of the basic remedies in combating the spread of diseases and accompanying social and economic decay is the provision of a basic health infrastructure.
Currently over 85 percent of Kenya nurses are certified below a qualified level and have not been trained in the management of new and re-emerging diseases (e.g., HIV/AIDS and tuberculosis) that are compounding the poverty situation in Africa. The electronic training Accenture will provide will equip these nurses with skills not covered in their initial training, including disaster management, which will enable them to effectively support responses to man-made and natural disasters familiar to Kenya, such as famine.
Further, the Accenture/AMREF program specifically will train nurses in the prevention and control of malaria. Currently, Kenyan nurses below diploma level are not trained to manage malaria, which is the leading cause of child morbidity and mortality in Africa; the average Kenyan child contracts malaria 4.5 times per year and more than 3,000 Kenyan children under age five die from malaria every day.
"We’re pleased to be able to support AMREF in its endeavors to mitigate the training crisis in the Kenyan healthcare system," said Vernon Ellis, Accenture’s international chairman and chairman of Accenture’s Corporate Citizenship Council. "This opportunity is a perfect fit for Accenture’s corporate citizenship investment program in that it truly allows us to leverage our technology and the expertise of our people to help improve the way the world works and lives."
The program, which will run over five years, has three distinct phases: design and program planning, which will last three months, followed by a three-month pilot serving 300 nurses with five regional training centers; a six-month rollout of the full solution to all regional training centers; and four and a half years of ongoing support of the eLearning program.
About Accenture
Accenture is a global management consulting, technology services and outsourcing company. Committed to delivering innovation, Accenture collaborates with its clients to help them become high-performance businesses and governments. With deep industry and business process expertise, broad global resources and a proven track record, Accenture can mobilize the right people, skills and technologies to help clients improve their performance. With more than 110,000 people in 48 countries, the company generated net revenues of US$13.67 billion for the fiscal year ended Aug. 31, 2004. Its home page is www.accenture.com.
About AMREF
The African Medical and Research Foundation (AMREF) is an independent non-profit, non-governmental organization (NGO) whose mission is to improve the health of disadvantaged people in Africa as a means for them to escape poverty and improve the quality of their lives.
About AMREF
The African Medical and Research Foundation (AMREF) is an independent non-profit, non-governmental organization (NGO) whose mission is to improve the health of disadvantaged people in Africa as a means for them to escape poverty and improve the quality of their lives.
*References to Accenture include Accenture Ltd and its subsidiaries as well as independent charitable organizations that bear the Accenture name.
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Laura Ryan
+1 (212) 614 4951