USAID Assists Kenya with Improved Commodity Storage Systems
The U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) officially handed over a new metal shelving system – designed to store drugs and medical supplies - to the Kenya Medical Supplies Agency (KEMSA), today.
The new system, installed in KEMSA’s Embakasi warehouse, is only one component of USAID’s support to KEMSA and is valued at almost Ksh 40 million (US$ 458,000). With this improved storage system, KEMSA will be in a better position to maintain the high-value medical commodities and ensure that Kenya’s health facilities have access to quality drugs and supplies. During the system’s installation, 7,000M2 of space was fitted with metal shelves for storage of medical products with a capacity to hold well over 200,000 kg of products in 994 newly created bays. Medical products will now no longer be stored on the floor – an arrangement that shortened the products’ lives. They will now be placed in the newly created storage bays protecting them from a variety of harmful elements.
This new system has increased storage capacity of KEMSA’s Embakasi warehouse by more than 30% and has improved the efficiency with which health facilities are able to pick up their supplies.
“USAID and the Government of Kenya are working closely to improve Kenya’s health services and make them easier to reach for all the country’s citizens,” said Erna Kerst, the USAID/Kenya Mission Director. “Improving the way medical supplies are stored and distributed is an important step in that direction.”
USAID has been working in Kenya for more than 50 years. Today, USAID/Kenya is working with the Government of Kenya, civil society groups and the private sector to advance democracy and the rule of law, to improve health and education services, and to modernize and grow the economy so that Kenya's wealth is shared by more.
