Several African countries continue to grapple with the absence of publicly run emergency medical services (EMS), leaving private operators to fill a life-saving gap. In Kenya, that reality is beginning to change as the country rolls out its first national emergency medical response programme, a move expected to significantly strengthen access to urgent care.
Until now, emergency response in Kenya has largely depended on private companies such as Pulse Emergency Medical Response (Pulse EMR), which have operated independently to provide ambulance and first-responder services. However, the challenges of operating in a complex infrastructure environment remain significant.
Pulse EMR founder and CEO Margaret Gitau says reaching patients in time is often complicated by connectivity and power issues.
“In some parts of the country, we do have network blackouts, so there is latency,” Gitau explains. “At time,s we also have electricity problems, such that when someone wants to be assisted, you get to their destination and find that they don’t have power on their telephones. It becomes a challenge even to locate them.”
To overcome these obstacles and improve efficiency, first responders are increasingly turning to technology platforms that connect those in distress with emergency services more accurately and quickly. One such company is AURA, a technology firm that links users to emergency responders using GPS-enabled systems.
Victor Odera, AURA’s Kenyan Country Manager, says the company focuses on ensuring precise location tracking and broad access.
“We give users access to emergency services, to the exact GPS location anywhere, anytime, by connecting them to a network of vetted private emergency response providers,” he says.
In Kenya, AURA works with dozens of private emergency response companies across more than 40 cities and towns, offering support for medical, roadside and other emergencies. The company has also diversified the ways users can access its services.
“We’re able to cater to people who do not want to download an application,” Odera notes. “We have the phone call modality. We’re also looking at panic buttons and wearables like smart watches. These varied channels allow us to put our solution into the hands of many people.”
Speaking to CNN’s Eleni Giokos, AURA co-founder and CEO Warren Meyers reflected on the motivation behind launching the company in 2017.
“At the time, people could get a taxi or a pizza quicker than they could get help when they were dying or having an emergency,” Meyers said. “That didn’t make sense. So we built a platform marketplace to democratize access to emergency response services.”
Looking ahead, Meyers says AURA plans to expand into North African and French-speaking markets, including Morocco and Egypt, while deepening partnerships that enable service delivery across the continent.
As Kenya moves closer to a fully functional national EMS framework, private providers and technology platforms are expected to remain critical partners—helping to save lives as the country builds a more coordinated and accessible emergency response system.
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