Access Afya

The Challenge

In the developing world, sickness and disease continue to have a devastating impact on the poor, preventing economic development. 56% of Kenyans are poor by the World Bank definition, living on one dollar or less a day per capita. Over 30% of Kenyans do not seek care when they are sick citing financial difficulties and lack of access as primary reasons. There are many diseases such as malairia and respiratory tract infections that can be diagnosed and treated cheaply and effectively, and critical services such as family planning that do not need hospitals to administer, yet a lack of information and quality providers create a bottlenect in rolling these services out to vulnerable communities.

Mission and Vision

Access Afya will provide Kenyan consumers at the base of the pyramid with low cost, high quality, basic but critical health care services via high-tech mini-clinics. Our vision is to create a sustainable, scalable model for delivering critical health care services to underserved populations and to expand throughout Kenya and beyond. This vision is possible through standardization, rigorous business processes, community marketing, and planning for scale.

The Model

We sell pay-per-use clinical services in our mini-clinic. The pilot facility is 12 x 15ft, divided into a consultation room, lab, dispensary with a street-facing window, and waiting bench. It is sanitary and efficient; there are tile floors, essential clinical supplies, and treated water. A patient walks in and a community health worker greets them. In the back, there is a certified clinical officer or nurse. Services include consultations to discuss symptoms, family planning, preparing for a safe pregnancy, running rapid diagnostic tests, and monitoring vitals. Customers can also buy "packages" of health services, payable in small amounts.Our patients take their prescriptions three feet to the on-site dispensary window to fill. The average cost of consultation, diagnosis, and treatment is $4.00. The clinic is paperless, and Access Afya is dedicated to integrating technology through diagnostics, protocols, patient record management, training, and follow-up to improve care and lower operating costs.

The pilot clinic opened in a slum in southeast Nairobi in December 2012. Over 100 paying patients came in the first two months and our numbers are growing. We are planning to expand this pilot and interested in connecting with anyone that ones to help.