On her first trip as our new Honorary Ambassador Ms. Gina Din visited St Pius Uriri Boys Secondary School in Migori to join our Representative Mr. Siddharth Chatterjee for the First Lady’s 37th Beyond Zero mobile clinic launch.
Arriving in the morning in Migori County Ms. Gina Din and Mr. Siddharth Chatterjee were joined by John Feakes, Australian High Commissioner, Roxane De Bilderling, Belgian Ambassador and Johan Borgstam, Swedish Ambassador.
The trip included a visit to the local community health facility in Uhiri, which has received training support by the H6 6 counties initiative. Migori County is among the 6 counties in Kenya, which account for close to 50% of pregnancy related deaths. These 6 counties have been specifically targeted by UNFPA and partner agencies to bring down the burden of maternal deaths, which pose a huge challenge for women and children.
A mother dying during pregnancy or while giving life is a terrible tragedy, both for the relatives, but also for the community at large. When a mother dies it impacts the surviving family’s stability and it can often push a family further in to poverty because the contribution to the family’s income is diminished. It can also lead to loss of education, because older children in the family have to give up school to go to work instead.
Making sure that both mother and child can live a healthy and prosperous life after childbirth is at the hearth of Ms. Gina Din’s motivation for partnering with UNFPA. “I had to be driven over two hours when I went into labor with my daughter two months early. I was fortunate to get to a well equipped hospital in time and my daughter was well looked after. My hope is for every mother to have access to well equipped medical facilities for herself and her children”, said Gina Din during her speech at the Beyond Zero launch.
Health care a little closer
With the donation of the 37th Beyond Zero mobile clinic in Migori county the First Lady continued her effort to make quality health care more accessible to some of the most remote regions of Kenya.
The Beyond Zero mobile clinic is a fully equipped medical unit on wheels, which is at the disposal of the county health teams, to bring health care to the people. The Beyond Zero campaign and the donation of the mobile clinics have been launched to support the ambition of improved health care services in Kenya.
“Access to health for women, girls, children and every citizen of our county Kenya should be a concern for all of us. We all have a part to play, and through collective efforts and building partnerships such as the one we are forging today will bring us closer to achieving our national goal - Health for all”, said Ms. Margaret Kenyatta during her speech.
The attendance of Gina Din and the strong delegation of ambassadors further highlights the broad support for the Government of Kenya’s efforts to deliver quality health care to the people.
