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First Lady’s Beyond Zero initiative gets a major boost

First Lady Margaret Kenyatta receives a cheque worth  Sh2 million from Miller Foundation (K) Chairperson, Cecil Miller, to go toward the "Beyond Zero" campaign/PSCU

First Lady Margaret Kenyatta receives a cheque worth Sh2 million from Miller Foundation (K) Chairperson, Cecil Miller, to go toward the “Beyond Zero” campaign/PSCU

NAIROBI, Kenya, Jul 11 – Five organisations Thursday donated cash and equipment valued at Sh31.3m to boost First lady Margaret Kenyatta’s Beyond Zero campaign.

FORD Foundation through the Regional Representative Maurice Makoloo donated Sh15m, Housing Finance Corporation of Kenya’s Board chairman Steve Mainda presented Sh10m on behalf of the company while the Chinese Ambassador Liu Xianfa donated Infant Incubators valued at Sh2.3m.

Others were Murang’a County Government through the Governor Mwangi wa Iria (Sh2m) and Miller Foundation through the chairperson Cecil Miller (Sh2m).

The Murang’a County Government will also finance a Mobile Clinic from its Health budget dedicated to the Beyond Zero campaign.

Meanwhile, spouses of Cabinet Secretaries also donated Sh600,000 toward the noble cause. The donation was presented to the First Lady at State House, Nairobi by Pamela Macharia, wife to Health Cabinet Secretary James Macharia.

Receiving the donations at State House Nairobi, the First Lady thanked all the sponsors for their kind gesture saying their support adds impetus to the noble cause.

She said: “Your support truly warms my heart. With unity we can make accessible maternal and child health care services to less privileged Kenyans”.

The First Lady appealed to other individuals and corporate organisations to support the campaign as the ‘surest way’ of providing solutions to the many healthcare problems facing Kenyans.

The Director of Medical Services (DMS) Dr Nicholas Muraguri urged all Kenyans to support the Beyond Zero campaign that aims at ensuring that no woman or child in the country died of preventable causes.

Dr Muraguri said 5,500 women die of child-birth related complications every year in the country because they cannot access health care.

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He said another 100,000 children die from preventable and treatable causes with 40 per cent of them dying before their first birthday.

The DMS noted that only 50 per cent of Kenyans are able to access healthcare services. Mobile clinics will complement fixed medical services and ensure that women give birth in dignity.

The donors congratulated the First Lady for her initiatives to spearhead the Beyond Zero as a national agenda.

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