First Lady Margaret Kenyatta was today joined by the First Lady of Mozambique, Isaura Nyusi where she launched the Beyond Zero Medical Safari, a new model for healthcare delivery in which medical service providers come together to offer specialized services to the public at designated locations.
She also commissioned the Point of Care Early Infant Diagnosis (POCEID) technology at the Jaramogi Oginga Odinga Teaching and Referral Hospital (JOOTRH) in Kisumu.
I am pleased that the First Lady of Mozambique, Isaura Nyusi, has joined me as we launch the #BeyondZeroMedicalSafari in Kisumu. I remain committed to my promise – to ensure that our mothers and children are protected from preventable illnesses and deaths #UniversalHealthCoverage pic.twitter.com/FuiOhpbhKZ
— The First Lady Kenya (@FirstLadyKenya) November 22, 2018
“I am pleased that the First Lady of Mozambique, Isaura Nyusi, has joined me as we launch the #BeyondZeroMedicalSafari in Kisumu. I remain committed to my promise – to ensure that our mothers and children are protected from preventable illnesses and deaths #UniversalHealthCoverage,” said the First Lady in a tweet.
According to Margaret Kenyatta, the Beyond Zero Medical Safari was conceived from the conviction that healthcare services ought to be brought closer to women and their families in response to the critical health challenges that affect them.
The Beyond Zero Medical Safari will offer integrated services that benefit the whole community so that no one is left behind as is stipulated in the Universal Health Coverage, a key component of the Uhuru’s Big Four Agenda.
After commissioning the new facility, the First Lady launched the National Point of Care Technologies Roadmap under which millions of new born babies from across the country will be able to access the new POCEID HIV testing technology.
The First Lady said the new device will impact millions of babies across the country and thanked the Ministry of Health and the National Aids and STI control Programme (NASCOP) for adopting the new technology in HIV testing.
At the Hospital, the First Lady was received and guided through the facility by Kisumu Governor Prof. Anyang Nyong’o, Chief Executive Officer Dr. Peter Okoth, County Executive Committee Member (CEC) for Health Dr. Rosemary Obara, County Secretary Dr. Olango Onudi and Director of Health Dr. Dickens Onyango.
The new technology provides an immediate result that allows the babies exposed to the HIV virus to commence life-saving antiretroviral therapy. POCEID technology replaces the old Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) HIV testing used to detect antigens in the blood. Results under the PCR testing method come out after 4 to10 days.
The three-day Medical Safari camp is being held at the Jomo Kenyatta Sports Grounds, where First Lady Margaret Kenyatta unveiled both the National POCEID roadmap and the Kisumu County Elimination of Mother to Child Transmission (eMTCT) and Syphilis Framework 2018-2022.
For every mother and child. #UniversalHealthCoverage #BeyondZeroMedicalSafari pic.twitter.com/XqOnKEtApi
— The First Lady Kenya (@FirstLadyKenya) November 22, 2018
The First Lady thanked the many partners working with Beyond Zero including the County and the National governments, and the private sector to provide integrated health services and reiterated her commitment to continue pushing for policies and approaches that protect the welfare of women and children saying that women are the centre of families and children, the future of Kenya.
Kisumu becomes the second County to benefit from the Beyond Zero Medical Safari after Narok County on September 12 where hundreds of people were diagnosed and treated for various ailments. The First Lady plans to take the Medical Safaris to all the 47 counties.
Do you think it is possible for the Medical Safaris to be done in all 47 counties?