The company’s Group Chairman Europe, Middle East and Africa Jane Griffiths said Nairobi as the regional hub was arrived at because of political stability and the market potential for their products.
NAIROBI, Kenya, Mar 10 – Johnson and Johnson has set up an operations hub for East Africa in Nairobi.
This is a departure from the practice of working through distributors in the region, in what the company says will help them understand the market better.
The company’s Group Chairman Europe, Middle East and Africa Jane Griffiths said the Nairobi hub would be key to developing new vaccines and devices that deliver better treatment for health issues unique to the region.
She added that the choice on Nairobi as the regional hub was arrived at because of political stability and the market potential for their products.
“Having a foot in the region will allow us to better understand the realities and the challenges specific to East Africa and come up with solutions and partnerships which best addresses the issues”, said Ms. Griffiths.
The East African office becomes the third one after the Ghana office was launched on Tuesday this Week with the other office is in South Africa.
Speaking during the launch, Dr. Peter Kimuu, the head of policy, planning and health financing at the Ministry of health said that the health sector needed more input from the private sector in order to improve services.
“The healthcare sector is a Ksh.240 billion economy but what is important to us as a government is to ensure accessibility and affordability of service delivery. The entry of the company will definitely help us address issues such as affordability and accessibility of drugs and equipment.
