(PSCU) – First Lady Margaret Kenyatta will tomorrow, Thursday, 9th May 2019 visit West Pokot County to officially launch the 3rd Beyond Zero Medical Safari.
The official launch of the four-day Medical Safari, which started on May 7 with the registration, assessment and screening of patients, will take place at Makutano Stadium near Kapenguria town.
Among the organizations participating in the medical safari are the National Council for Persons with Disabilities, Phillips East Africa which is providing maternal screening, NHIF that is registering pregnant women for the Linda Mama programme, Kisii Eye Hospital which is providing eye care while Beth Mugo Cancer Foundation, Women for Cancer and Africa Cancer Foundation are screening for breast and cervical cancer among women and prostate cancer among men respectively.
It is estimated that by the time the medical safari ends on Friday, May 10, close to 7,000 West Pokot residents will have received free treatment for various ailments including fistula surgeries.
Like in the first Medical Safari held in Narok County in September and the second in November 2018 in Kisumu County, Beyond Zero is working with the County Government and other partners to provide the free specialized medical services to the public.
The Medical Safaris are at the core of the First Lady’s Beyond Zero 2nd Strategic Framework (2018-2022) that is anchored on the principle of “leaving no one behind”. The framework is pegged on a life-cycle approach targeting pregnant women and newborns, infants and children, adolescents and young people, men, older persons and persons with disabilities.
The wider objective of the Medical Safaris is to contribute towards the achievement of Universal Healthcare Coverage, one of the pillars of the government’s Big 4 Agenda.
The launch of the medical safari will be preceded by a visit to the Kapenguria County Referral Hospital where the First Lady will open a reproductive health surgical theater before commissioning a cryotherapy machine and later launch a satellite blood bank for West Pokot County.
During the visit to West Pokot, First Lady Margaret Kenyatta will launch three crucial policy documents – the National Female Genital Fistula Strategic Framework, the National Training Curriculum for Health Care Workers and the National Training Curriculum for Community Health Volunteers – that are aimed at consolidating national efforts in addressing the problem of fistula.
The First Lady will also launch the West Pokot Business Plan for the elimination of Mother-to-Child Transmission (eMTCT) of HIV. The business plan outlines how the county will dedicate more resources for eMTCT by 2021 in line with the Kenya Framework for Elimination of Mother-To-Child Transmission of HIV and Syphilis.
