On behalf of the President, the Board of Directors, Management and Staff of the African Export-Import Bank, it gives me great pleasure to welcome you all to this auspicious occasion signifying the signing and formal onboarding of Kings College Hospital (KCH) London, UK as the clinical and medical partner for the African Medical Centre of Excellence (AMCE).

It is well known that Africans are among the largest importers of medical services globally. This has been driven by the changes in lifestyles caused by the rapid growth in average incomes across the continent over the last decade. The New Delhi-based Research and Information System for Developing Countries (RIS) estimates that on an annual basis more than 300,000 Africans travel to India for medical services. This in value terms is estimated at over US$2 Billion spending per annum.

Distinguished Ladies and Gentlemen, this outflow has been attributed to the lack of well-equipped, advanced medical facilities and practitioners across the continent. Many of the existing medical facilities are not in the position to deal with the new kinds of ailments occurring due to changing lifestyles. It is in this regard, that the Bank conceptualised and launched the Health and Medical Tourism Programme (HMTP) aimed ultimately at promoting trade in medical services across Africa. Through this programme and our work with partners like KCH, the Bank intends to foster the emergence of world class medical facilities and medical research centres on the continent.

Distinguished Ladies and Gentlemen, the purpose of the strategic alliance is to jointly develop and deliver a range of specialist healthcare services to patients in the continent of Africa. The first area of healthcare specialism that the strategic business alliance will focus on is establishing the AMCE. The alliance aims to leverage:

1. KCH’s capabilities in the provision of high quality healthcare services across a broad spectrum. These services include access to King’s College Hospital NHS Foundation Trust’s capabilities in clinical services, education and training as well as KCH’s experience and skill in healthcare, clinical services operation and management.

2. AFREXIMBANK’s capabilities as a multilateral development finance institution in providing value-added financial services in the continent of Africa.

A higher proportion of Africa’s disease burden is shifting towards Non-Communicable Diseases (NCD). Across West Africa, NCDs such as Cardiovascular ailments, Cancers and Haematological disorders are the highest contributors to the disease burden, representing 81% of all NCD mortality. Annually, There are an estimated 1.27M  patients in need of intervention across the disease areas targeted by the AMCE with only 140K potentially able to afford care. This represents a market opportunity of approximately $962M.

West Africa has broad economic and demographic diversity but with poor key health indices across the board. The region is characterized by disproportionately large  p spending which limits access to quality healthcare services within the region. Moreover, there is inadequate health infrastructure to serve the population. Further, there is a reported shortage of qualified human capital for health which is even more severe in the case of Non-Communicable Diseases that require specialist skills.

Most hospitals are underfunded, underequipped and inaccessible to most patients in non-urban areas. There is also a limited health insurance cover in the region in addition to acute shortage of health care workers and even greater deficit in skilled specialist personnel. All this is largely due to a shortage of training institutions, economic migration and limited opportunities to practice.

Care for NCDs mostly supplied at the tertiary care centres, and sometimes at secondary level, however referral systems are generally poor. The needed care for NCD cases is many times met through medical tourism to countries such as India, USA and UK.