The entire nation fell in love with the First Lady Margaret Kenyatta when she launched the beyond zero campaign and at her age, ran a marathon to help eradicate infant and child mortality in the country.
After a two year break, Margaret Kenyatta will tomorrow relaunch the First Lady’s Half Marathon. The half marathon seeks to draw attention of stakeholders to the challenges of maternal and infant health in Kenya and raise resources to increase access to healthcare for mothers and their babies.
The First Lady’s marathon is one of the key fundraising events for Beyond Zero, a flagship programme aimed at saving the lives of mothers and children by preventing unnecessary maternal and child deaths. The campaign also aims to eliminate mother-to-child transmission of HIV by 2020, besides scaling up the war against new HIV infections among adolescents.
The inaugural race was held in March 2014 followed by two others in 2015 and 2016 before taking a break. In 2014, Kenyatta participated in the 42 km London Marathon, becoming the first spouse of a Head of State to undertake such a high-profile sporting event.
Since it’s launch in 2014, the Beyond Zero campaign has complemented the government efforts in health care provision.
Earlier this year, the First Lady launched the second Beyond Zero Strategic Framework (2018-2022) which expands the initiative’s healthcare programmes to include previously neglected health challenges including obstetric fistula, children living with disabilities and the increased involvement of men in reproductive health.
The First Lady is probably doing more than the Ministry of Health in trying to improve healthcare of women and children in the country. Do you think Kenya as a country is able to achieve zero maternal deaths by 2022?