The Kenya Red Cross Society, in partnership with the World Health Organisation (WHO) and other key stakeholders, has launched the Continuity of Cardiometabolic Care in Crisis (CiC II) Programme, a four-year initiative aimed at strengthening health services for people living with diabetes, hypertension, and other cardiovascular conditions.
The Continuity of Cardiometabolic Care in Crisis (CiC II) is a programme aimed at ensuring people living with chronic conditions such as diabetes, hypertension, and heart disease continue to receive essential care even during emergencies.
It focuses on maintaining access to treatment, medicines, screening, and follow-up services when health systems are disrupted by crises like conflict, displacement, or disasters. The initiative, now in its second phase, is being implemented in Kenya, Ethiopia, and Somalia to strengthen continuity of care for vulnerable patients in fragile settings.
The programme seeks to reach more than one million people across Kenya, Ethiopia, and Somalia, ensuring uninterrupted care for patients with chronic illnesses, particularly in crisis-affected and vulnerable settings where access to treatment is often disrupted.
The launch event, held at Boma Hotel in Nairobi, brought together government officials and regional partners committed to improving non-communicable disease (NCD) care in humanitarian and fragile contexts.
Speaking during the launch, Dr Joel Gondi, Director of Primary Health Care at the Ministry of Health, who represented the Cabinet Secretary, officially launched the programme and emphasised the importance of sustained care delivery even during emergencies.
“This programme is a critical step in ensuring that chronic disease care does not stop when crises begin. We must rethink how we deliver continuous care to vulnerable populations,” Dr Gondi said.
The initiative brings together a wide consortium of partners, including the Danish Red Cross, the Novo Nordisk Foundation, the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC), WHO Kenya, the Ethiopian Red Cross Society, the Somali Red Crescent Society, and the Africa Centre of Excellence for Non-Communicable Diseases at the University of Nairobi.
Over the four years, the programme will provide screening, treatment, essential medicines, and follow-up care, targeting continuity of care for people living with cardiometabolic conditions across the three countries.
As the programme begins implementation, organisers say the focus will now shift to strengthening health systems, improving access to essential medicines, and building resilient care pathways that can withstand shocks such as conflict, displacement, and climate-related emergencies.
“The work begins now,” officials noted at the close of the launch, signalling the start of a coordinated regional effort to protect continuity of care for chronic disease patients in crisis settings.