Commendable healthcare support for communities
Health: Boehringer Ingelheim
A family owned and research-driven business headquartered in Ingelheim, Germany, Boehringer Ingelheim (BI) is dedicated to social good and essentially supporting communities in different parts of the world. Apart from supporting communities in rural parts of Kenya and other African countries to fight dog bites induced rabies by freely donating rabies vaccines (and working with partners to vaccinate free roaming dogs and other dogs in homes), the company in 2024 launched the Access to Health (ATH) program focused on prevention, education and management of non-communicable disease (NCDs) (now endemic in many parts of the world) and works in partnership with various healthcare providers.
According to Ms Hale Asikoglu, Head of Sustainable Development for Generations, IMETA, Boehringer Ingelheim –BI, the ATH program now assists over 8400 people in Kenya and mainly focuses on diabetes and hypertension ( &hypotension) (BP) two of the commonest NCDs in the country.
“We started the program, as a pilot in Kenya, with only 184 people and we’ve attracted many more. We get daily onboarding through our esteemed partners,” explains Hale. BI is very active in parts of Eldoret through its partner AMPATH (Academic Model Providing Access to Healthcare) in Eldoret. It also partners with Zuri Health in several other counties and has now on-boarded Lions SightFirst eye hospital. “BI is very keen on sustainable health and related projects and is determined to move the ATH program to its next level in the country. We are here to stay and hope to extend the program to other eastern Africa countries by 2027,”affirms Hale.
The company mainly focuses on the prevalent diabetes and hypertension in the country with some of its partners being Zuri Health; Lions Sight-First Eye Hospital; Bomu hospital (Mombasa); AMPATH; several mission hospitals & MEDS (Mission for Essential Drugs) among others. Mirna Hammoud BI’s Corporate Communications Manager affirms that BI is keen and committed to expanding the access to health targeting to reach and impact 50 million (M) people globally by 2030. “The BI family has committed to invest k Sh 5306 billion (B) (Euros 35B) for NCDs research and health innovation. We have also committed an additional K Sh 37,900 million (M) (Euros 250 M) in partnerships to combat emerging infectious diseases and improve lives of 50 M people globally,” affirmed Ms Hammuod at an exclusive Media workshop & roundtable meeting organized by the Tell Em PR Group in Nairobi on Nov 19th 2025.
The media Roundtable got interesting insights from its chief guests that included George Kuria, Head of Product Management Sub-Saharan Africa- BI; Hale Asikoglu, BI; Dr. Anthony Nduati- Chronic Disease Management Program Product Manager -Zuri Health & Dr Rilwan Adan of Lions SightFirst Eye Hospital & also a committee member in some of WHO’s (world health organization) committees.
“This is an end-to-end program that creates awareness on NCDs. It also provides treatment including drugs and works to ensure adherence to treatment. We focus on the ordinary grassroots patients in the country assisted by our partners including mission hospital strewn all over Kenya and we provide treatment, drugs and build capacity in diabetes and hypertension (BP) management through ensuring that patients are seen by the right clinicians. Essentially, we strive to go to the patients’ location and also educate them about the diseases,” Kuria expounded. According to him affordability of healthcare is not just about the consultation costs but also availability of clinicians and drugs especially in rural areas. Patients’ on-boarding to the program is based on patients’ vulnerability with partners & doctors especially helping to identify the neediest cases in informal settlements and low-income areas such as Majengo, Pumwani and kangemi. This ensures that the most deserving patients are reached. In addition to the 84000 patients already reached by the ATH program, lives of over 180,000 patients have been positively impacted. To widen the reach, according to Dr Adan, Lions Eye SightFirst also runs the program in its satellite hospitals in Nyeri and Naivasha in addition to offering the ATH in its main Loresho hospital in Loresho-Kangemi, Nairobi.
Zuri Health commits in partnership with BI to offer long-term support using digital & physical means that teach about the right diets and diabetes & BP proper management. “We’re proud to be part of the transformational ATH program and we endeavor to bring to our stations local and international experts to treat patients in health camps where we enroll the needy patients, educate them and also do follow up mostly virtually. Essentially we offer continuous support for diabetes & BP patients and create awareness that help them change negative life styles among other prevention measures,” affirmed Dr Nduati.
Dr Adan described diabetes and BP as two silent killers and hence the need for urgent awareness creation and regular screenings. According to her, almost 28 per cent of incomes go to treating diabetes in homes with diabetic patients. “At Lions SightFirst Eye Hospital we commit to keenly treat diabetes especially given that the disease often affects eye sight and leads to complications which if not treated early can lead to blindness and other problems,” asserted Dr Adan. “We subsidize treatments & drugs costs through affordable therapies and we emphasize early detection and treatment to fight complications,” she added. She expounded that through the ATH program, holistic treatment is offered emphasizing health coaching and early complications detections.
Salient issues identified in NCDs treatment:
In the enlightening and open discourse interesting NCDs insights emerged. Testing for both diabetes and BP is very important. Early testing identifies pre- diabetes and pre-hypertension conditions and with early & consistent treatment and patients’ adherence to treatment, the two diseases can go to remission and stop the need for lifelong medication. In the BI ATH program, BI conducts testing in all communities in partnership with hospitals and at the hospitals’ clinicians’ discretion. BI continues following up on the patients in the hospitals. Inspired by the WHO models, the ATH also creates health coaches who relate with the patients daily or regularly. Patients gain more confidence from relating with health coaches since they realize that people care for their health.
It was emphasized that creating awareness about the two NCD diseases is paramount to fight the high yet rising incidence. Some lifestyles such as consumption of too much sugar and salt by expectant mothers could predispose the unborn children to the two diseases and hence the need for awareness to change some risky behaviors.
To fight the NCDs menace, Zuri provides physical and digital testing and awareness creation in medical camps, follows up and follows through with patients. Today, patients are also reaching out digitally to Zuri for help. According to BI early detection and awareness on diabetes and BP can stop 80 per cent of deaths from the two diseases. ‘Newly detected’ or ‘newly diagnosed’ in the two diseases tend to merely confirm presence of the diseases which the patients have been living with prior to testing and hence the need of a regular & positive health –seeking and testing culture in communities.
The Lions hospital plugs in clinicians to walk the journey with patients without disturbance and to also keep costs down. On its part, BI is keen to extend the ATH program to all counties in Kenya by 2027 and also empower level 1 & level 2 government health facilities doctors to help diabetes and BP patients; essentially BI is working to build doctors’ capacities. BI encourages formation of community groups including ‘Chamas’ or groups where members could contribute for medication costs and where patients in the ‘Chamas’ could coach and help each other.
According to Zuri the inability to afford healthcare & medications costs reduces access to healthcare and hence the group’s partnership with clinicians to offer free or more affordable consultations charges in primary care for detection & secondary care after detection. Medications for the two diseases are life long and thus costly and challenging where patients stop adhering to treatment and drugs taking. In the journey with patients, habits such as eating unhealthy foods and not getting good quality sleep are discouraged. Yet, digital platforms help the doctors to listen to patients in better ways.
Despite the Kenya ministry of health 2015 Step Survey indication of diabetes prevaleance of 3 per cent in the entire population, the disease incidence has been rising every passing year with county by county detection being high and especially for diabetes and BP. The 3 – 4 per cent diabetes prevalence in the country is especially more pronounced in many parts of central Kenya and Mombasa due to factors such as higher refined carbohydrates consumption. Equally, there is a rise of the diseases in informal settlements areas and in Less Developed Countries (LDCs) generally due to unhealthy lifestyles and poor feeding habits as factors of rising poverty levels. And despite the global rise in NDCs generally, due to many factors including unhealthy lifestyles, mortality from the diseases is higher in LDCs.
The doctors emphasized the importance of motivating patients to adhere to treatment through health coaching and positive lifestyle changes. In ‘systemic patients empowerment’ patients are taught to among other things avoid stressful living and adopt healthier life styles including keeping active and avoiding ‘junk’ foods among others. Nutrition education and awareness on the dangers of stress and sedentary lifestyle is important; patients must be advised to avoid processed foods and sedentary lifestyle which is also causing ‘pediatric obesity’.
And according to the International Diabetes federation (IDF), Africa will have the highest global diabetes incidence (114 per cent) by 2045 due to factors such as urbanization and more sedentary lifestyles. According to the discourse, sitting for too long is as dangerous as smoking; indeed sitting is being described as the ‘new smoking’. And the daily interaction with BP and diabetes cases point to unofficial incidence of almost 25 per cent of BP in Kenya with more cases still undetected. Equally, pre-diabetes prevalence is high in the country and there is a 5 per cent to 10 per cent prevalence of newly diagnosed cases at hospital such as the Lions’ SightFirst Eye Hospital.
To fight diabetes, there is further need for better pre-metabolic health where pregnant mothers are well advised to avoid consuming too much starch which could predispose the fetus to getting used to the starch. Such predisposition could lead to cases of diabetes in children though other factors including hereditary reasons could also be to blame for rising cases of childhood diabetes.
Essentially too much starch also leads to obesity which predisposes people to Type 2 diabetes where the body gets resistant to insulin. Essentially, energy intake must balance with burning of calories. Hence people must be taught to eat healthy food portions and to use the starch they consume. According to the discourse, obesity apart from driving diabetes is also increasing risks of people getting BP & cardiovascular diseases, fertility challenges and the fatty liver disease among other conditions.
Diabetes & BP risk factors include a family history of the diseases (genetic factors); unhealthy lifestyle and feeding habits (as aforementioned eating of junk, processed foods, alcohol consumption & sedentary lifestyle among others); pre-eclampsia where pregnancy can cause BP and non-adherence to drug taking. Bombarding the pancreas with too starch can overwork the organ and lead to its failure or the body’s resistance to the insulin its produces. Further, BP can lead to arterial stiffness that stress the body and especially if a patient stops medication.
Can the long-term medication as seen in Diabetes and BP treatment lead to drug dependency or other complications? According to the doctors, chronic diseases have to be treated for the long-term and with strict adherence to medication. Most of the drugs do not have any negative results/complications. Some have side effects and if reported the drugs can be changed and reviewed. Doctors always give the necessary instructions & advise patients on how to take the drugs; the advice includes taking some drugs before meals and with adequate water among others. The patients are given individual instructions and advice and people need, therefore, to debunk the myths on long-term medication harm. Diabetes & BP drugs cause no addiction though some of the side effects could cause life quality decline and this therefore makes it crucial for follow up and follow through by doctors and regular screening and reviews of the patients.
Albert Boehringer:
According to Wikipaedia, Albert Boehringer (11 August 1861 – 11 March 1939) was a German chemist and industrialist who founded the chemical and pharmaceutical company C. H. Boehringer Sohn in Nieder-Ingelheim in 1885. the enterprise that later became Boehringer Ingelheim.
Today, the Boehringer and von Baumbach families, now in their fourth generation, continue to manage the company’s fortunes.
Though he founded BI in humble settings in 1885, the company is today one of the world’s largest pharmaceutical companies. It is one of the world’s 20 leading pharmaceutical companies and is renowned for its long-term approach to innovation, significant investment in research and development (R&D). Affiliated to companies in 145 countries globally and a global workforce of over 50,000 employees, the company’s main activities include developing innovative healthcare products for both humans and animals, with a strong emphasis on R&D. Its major therapeutic areas include oncology, mental health, cardiorenal metabolic conditions, inflammation, respiratory diseases, and animal health. As a private entity, BI prioritizes long-term commitment to innovation over short-term financial gains. It boasts of and produces a wide range of human and animal health products, including some well-known pharmaceutical brands such as Atrovent®, Berodual®, and Bovela®.
