Dr Stephen Kinoti, Senior Quality Improvement Advisor to the USAID Health Care Improvement Project, delivered the keynote address on reaching the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) at the East, Central, and Southern African (ECSA) Health Community Best Practices Forum and Directors Joint Consultative meeting in September 2009.  In the speech, entitled "Improving Access to Quality Health Care to achieve the Millennium Development Goals," Kinoti told ECSA delegates that existing resources could be used to reach MDGs 4, 5, and 6 which address reducing child mortality, improving maternal health, and combating diseases such as HIV/AIDS, TB and malaria among others.

Kinoti urged delegates, who attended from many African nations, to reflect on what “changes each of us can make to improve quality of care.” He pointed to a need to close the “know-do gap,” the delay between the discovery of effective ways to combat the causes of disease and the application of these proven interventions on a wide scale. Although research shows that high-impact interventions reduce morbidity and mortality, many facilities and practitioners still struggle to put these methods into practice.