Resources shared by the SDG Platform

Siddharth Chatterjee describes how strong political will, good public policies, and the right partnerships can result in proper medical training and adequate resources to maternal health facilities to end maternal and child mortality. 

Siddharth Chatterjee is the UN Resident Coordinator to Kenya working to advance implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals. Previously, he served as the UNFPA Representative to Kenya and the Chief Diplomat and Head of Strategic Partnerships at the International Federation of the Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies. 

Siddharth talks about the conflicts and violence along Kenya's northern boarders and what United Nations did to control the situation by involving different stakeholders.  Siddharth Chatterjee is the United Nations Resident Coordinator and UNDP Resident. As the United Nations Resident Coordinator he coordinates the work of 27 UN agencies in Kenya. He also works with the government and the people of Kenya to ensure the implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals.

Siddharth is the United Nations Resident Coordinator and the UNDP Resident Representative in Kenya. As the United Nations Resident Coordinator he coordinates the work of 27 UN agencies, driven by a determination to deliver as one. Siddharth Chatterjee is the United Nations Resident Coordinator and UNDP Resident. As the United Nations Resident Coordinator he coordinates the work of 27 UN agencies in Kenya. He also works with the government and the people of Kenya to ensure the implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals.

In an interview by CNBC Africa, on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum 2017 in Davos, Switzerland, Mr. Chatterjee discusses the milestones registered so far in Kenya's quest for universal healthcare as well as opportunities worth exploring. He also talks about the need to focus on women and the youth of Africa.

Kenya is amongst the 10 most dangerous countries for pregnant women. Between 6000 and 8000 women die every year during childbirth; the current maternal mortality rate is 488 deaths per 100,000 live births. Kenya has made little progress in reducing this to achieve the commitment set in the Millennium Development Goals of 147 deaths per 100,000.

However, thanks to the introduction of free maternity services for women by the Government of Kenya in 2013, Kenya’s dire maternal death rate may finally begin to fall. 

Africa’s quest for health continues to be held back by a combination of factors such as natural disasters and pandemics, prevailing high rates of communicable and rising incidence of non-communicable diseases, sedentary lifestyles, road accidents and greater population mobility.

With the region accounting for approximately a quarter of the world’s disease burden and just 3 percent of its doctors, it is difficult to be optimistic about the future.

Recently, some of us from the Stanford University and U.C. Berkeley community had the privilege of hosting Siddharth Chatterjee, the United Nations Resident Coordinator for Kenya and his team at the Silicon Valley, where he spoke at the 2018 African Diaspora Investment Symposium. The Kenya team also met with academics, Directors of Centers and students as well as some of brilliant technology leaders in Silicon Valley at Facebook and Google.

Consider this: As per a study by the World Bank, had the world addressed 90 percent of global unmet need for family planning by 2015, it would have reduced annual births by almost 28 million, consequently preventing 67,000 maternal deaths, 440,000 neonatal deaths, 473,000 child deaths and 564,000 stillbirths.

Consider this: every year, nearly 1 million Kenyans are pushed below the poverty line as a result of unaffordable health care expenses.

For many Kenyan families, the cost of health care is as distressing as the onset of illness and access to treatment. A majority of the population at risk can hardly afford the costs associated with basic health care and when faced with life threatening conditions, it is a double tragedy-inability to access health care and lack of resources to pay for the services.