McCauley Wycliff
Member
Baringo County hospital has a new maternal high dependency unit and a newborn unit built worth Sh11 million thanks to Safaricom Foundation.
The initiative is part of the foundation’s programme to increase access to quality maternal and child health services.
The Kenya Demographic Health Survey shows that Baringo county loses 375 mothers for every 100,000 births and 31 infants for every 1,000 born.
The investment will see the hospital increase its bed capacity at the Maternal high dependency unit from the current 8 beds to 36. It has also been equipped with patient monitors and a heating system.
“I would like to thank our partners, the County Government of Baringo, for their support in this maternal health programme. We commit to work together to deliver the objectives that we have set out to achieve to improve the lives of mothers and children in this county,” said Rita Okuthe, Safaricom Foundation Trustee.
Last year the Safaricom Foundation also supported the county’s Barwessa health centre and Chemolingot sub-county hospitals by upgrading their newborn and maternity units respectively at a cost of Sh21 million.
In January last year, Safaricom Foundation launched a Sh82 million Maternal, Newborn and Child Health programme in Baringo County with an aim of averting the high mother and child deaths that occur in the county.
The foundation’s maternal health programme was launched in 2019 and has thus far reached counties in the Coast and Rift Valley regions.
Under the programme the foundation set aside Sh132 million to promote maternal, newborn and child health services around the country.