A hospital cannot close its doors while its leaders work out how to make care affordable. Patients still need treatment, staff need support, and someone must keep the medicines arriving, even when it is unclear how the bill will be paid.
That is the daily reality behind sustainability in healthcare. It shaped the Healthcare Sector Sustainability Leadership Breakfast on 9 September 2026, convened by Global Compact Network Kenya in partnership with MP Shah Hospital and AAR Insurance. Under the theme “Responsible business and sustainability: The future of healthcare in Kenya”, the discussion examined decisions that reach well beyond any one institution.
Leadership beyond the institution
A well-run organization still depends on the businesses around it. For Abdi Mohamed, Board Chair of Global Compact Network Kenya, responsible leadership therefore extends into supply chains: how suppliers treat their employees, the standards they uphold, and whether purchasing decisions reward those practices.
His wider challenge was to recognize sustainability’s economic value. Healthcare supports the people on whom every industry relies, giving its leaders influence that extends across the economy.
Judy Njino, Executive Director of Global Compact Network Kenya, connected that responsibility to the sector’s interdependence. Insurers need reliable care networks; hospitals need ethical suppliers and dependable financing. Decisions taken in each organization eventually reach a patient or a family. With healthcare underrepresented in the United Nations Global Compact’s participant base in Kenya, there is room for more institutions to contribute their experience and work together on shared challenges.
Making sustainability part of the working day
In healthcare, financial decisions have immediate human consequences. A budget line can determine whether a nurse has support on a night shift or a patient receives a diagnostic test. For Toseef Din Msc,FCCA, CPA(K),Bsc, CEO of M.P. Shah Hospital and a Board Member of Global Compact Network Kenya, sustainability is the ability to “keep caring tomorrow without losing dignity, trust, or quality today”.
That requires honesty about the economics of care. Affordability, quality and institutional survival are competing pressures that leaders must address together. Leaving patients to absorb the consequences of a strained system is no lasting solution.
Neither is relying on an exhausted workforce. Staffing, safety, mental health support and the dignity with which employees are treated belong in leadership decisions. Procurement demands similar scrutiny: a cheaper purchase can prove costly when it compromises patient safety or continuity of care.
M.P. Shah Hospital’s Green 365 initiative, launched in 2019, demonstrates how these responsibilities can become part of daily operations. Emissions measurement, rainwater harvesting, energy efficiency and recycling are supported by staff Green Champions, with sustainability indicators embedded in management scorecards and governance decisions. Responsibility reaches from the board to the people delivering care.
Toseef also connected the hospital’s progress to learning and practical support through the UN Global Compact. Her emphasis was on active participation, using the platform to strengthen implementation and accountability. The challenge to fellow leaders was specific: take an issue that has remained peripheral, bring it into strategy and give it resources. Progress depends on whether that commitment survives the next budget decision, procurement review and working day.
The business case for wider access
Building on the keynote, the breakfast featured a panel discussion with Justine Kosgei, CEO and Principal Officer of AAR Insurance ; Dr. Gakombe KK , Chief Executive of Metropolitan Hospital Nairobi ; and Fatuma Said, Regional Business Development Manager at Amref Health Africa. Together, they examined what sustainability requires in practice across healthcare financing, hospital operations and community health.
For Justine, expanding access has also created opportunities for growth. Products developed to reach underserved groups, including lower-income customers and older populations, now contribute close to 30% of AAR’s revenue, he reported. Starting with what those customers could afford opened opportunities that existing products had missed.
He connected this approach to the tools and learning available through participation in the United Nations Global Compact, and to sustainability becoming part of decisions about products, technology and employees.
Affordability also depends on what happens between organizations. Dr. Gakombe pointed to duplicated claims administration and mistrust between providers and insurers. Both consume resources that could support patient care, with the costs ultimately returning through bills and premiums.
Better information could help change that relationship. Comparing outcomes, re-admissions and costs would give hospitals a clearer view of where they can improve. Metropolitan’s experience during COVID-19 illustrated the potential: outcome data identified doctors whose practices could be shared with colleagues and other facilities.
The same discipline applies to innovation. Technology earns its place when it helps prevent errors and improve care; clear decision-making authority matters just as much. An emergency response should not depend on a senior leader being physically present.
Quality begins with the people receiving care
For those seeking care, the barriers extend beyond cost. People may not know where to seek help, what insurance covers or which services are available closer to home.
Fatuma placed those gaps at the center of the discussion. Strengthening primary healthcare means investing in prevention and community health workers, while involving communities in defining the problems that partnerships seek to solve.
That changes how success is judged. A visible project may satisfy a partner without addressing a community’s most urgent need. Lasting partnerships require shared priorities and a willingness to be held accountable. Quality, too, includes whether patients feel heard and trust the people caring for them.
Turning the discussion into sustained action
The breakfast surfaced work already underway and gaps that leaders could address together. Continuing that exchange is part of the value of participation in the United Nations Global Compact.
Through its Ten Principles, practical tools, Academy learning and accelerator programs, organizations can build the skills to embed sustainability in their operations. Peer exchange offers a way to learn from experience elsewhere, while reporting helps make progress visible and accountable.
Global Compact Network Kenya connects that support to local business realities. In closing, Judy reaffirmed the Network’s readiness to work with organizations at different stages of their sustainability journey and continue the dialogue across the healthcare sector.
For leaders reading this, whether or not you attended, the invitation is open. Bring the issue your organization needs to address, learn from others working through similar decisions, and explore where collective action could help you make progress.
Learn more about joining the United Nations Global Compact and begin your organization’s application HERE.