The M-Pesa Foundation has announced a KES60 million investment to support the construction of a new maternal, neonatal and child health unit at Vihiga County Referral Hospital.
The new facility is set to increase the hospital’s bed capacity from 15 to 32 which will accommodate more mothers in the postnatal and antenatal wards. Additionally, the construction of the newly equipped eight-bed newborn unit will cater for newborns in need of further care.
The facility aims to provide improved maternal healthcare services to over 700,000 residents in Vihiga County and surrounding counties.
“Maternal healthcare is one of M-Pesa Foundation’s key focus areas under the health pillar,” Safaricom Foundation chairman Joseph Ogutu said.
“To this effect, we have partnered with various county governments across the country to establish modern mother and child units in key health centres to ensure that mothers have safe and clean environments to deliver their babies and reduce maternal and infant mortality rates in the country.”
The maternal unit will also include commodities to provide a variety of critical services such as postnatal and antenatal care, caesarian section deliveries, comprehensive clinic care, and laboratory services. It is expected to accommodate more expectant mothers and newborns from Vihiga and the surrounding Kakamega and Kisumu counties.
The Foundation has successfully constructed similar facilities in Homa Bay, Nyeri and Kwale counties and has ongoing projects in Busia, Bungoma, Kiambu, Siaya and Embu counties.
The M-PESA Foundation has also invested in the education sector within the county, recently handing over and commissioning the renovations of school infrastructure at Gamoi and Chekombero Primary Schools respectively.
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About M-PESA Foundation
Since its inception in 2010, the M-PESA Foundation partnered with Kenyans on large scale and long term highly impactful social projects. It aims to promote health, education and environmental conservation for the social and economic benefit of the people of Kenya and has reached over 2 million people over the years.
Under health, the Foundation has invested in Uzazi Salama, a Maternal and Newborn health project and Daktari Smart, a telemedicine programme that links and provides treatment to children in six hard-to-reach counties in Kenya. In education it supports bright children from economically disadvantaged backgrounds through the M-PESA Foundation Academy.
Under environmental conservation, they have invested in a fencing project at the Mau Eburu forest to curb recurring human-wildlife conflict, partnered with Reteti Elephant Sanctuary to help protect the orphaned and abandoned elephant calves in the Sanctuary and partnered with the Northern Rangelands Trust to establish and conserve viable and genetically diverse population of Roan Antelope within Ruma National Park in Kenya
Under Integrated livelihoods M-PESA Foundation has partnered with the Kenya Red Cross Society to rehabilitate Nyalani dam in Kwale County to improve food security and livelihoods for the people of Kinango.
