The Beyond Zero 4th edition Marathon has received a boost after giant telecommunication company Safaricom donated Sh2.48 million towards the Sunday event.
The half marathon is an initiative of First Lady Margaret Kenyatta and aims at curbing maternal deaths and child mortality, which is in line with Safaricom Foundation efforts to ease access to quality medical care in the country.
The sponsorship is in kind and entails; provision of a fully-fledged media centre, media goody bags, tablets to be used to track participants and airtime.
“Our mission is to transform lives through impactful investments and partnerships that improve our communities. Access to quality health is still a challenge in many parts of the country which is why Safaricom is keen to regularly collaborate with other entities to make health care accessible to all,” said Sylvia Mulinge, Chief Customer Officer, Safaricom.
Themed Let’s Run for Each Other, the Half Marathon targets 25,000 participants form across the country and will feature 21km, 10km, 5km, a special 2km race for pregnant women as well as Paralympic race for T11, T12 and T13.
First Lady Margaret Kenyatta, Rachel Ruto and Mama Ida Odinga are among those registered to take part in the event.
The half marathon is one of the key resource mobilization events for Beyond Zero, a flagship program aimed at creating awareness and drawing the attention of stakeholders to the challenges of maternal and infant health in Kenya.