More Kenyans are set to benefit from free medical services after Safaricom Foundation increased its funding towards the initiative to Sh36million.
Now in their tenth year, the Sh200 million program features free medical camps which have enabled over one million Kenyans to receive free consultation and treatment for health services.
“This forms part of our continuous effort to increase access to health care services for Kenyans. Kenya’s Vision 2030 aims to provide an efficient integrated and high quality affordable health care to all citizens with priority given to preventive care at community and household level. It is for this reason that we aim to support government’s agenda of promoting health care in Kenya,” said Joe Ogutu, Chairman, Safaricom Foundation.
The funds will be spent to conduct 12 free medical camps and three diabetes youth camps across the country over the next two years. The camps are conducted in partnership with the Kenya Diabetes Management and Information Centre.
In line with the shifting trends in Kenyan healthcare, the next phase of the medical camps will see a renewed focus on non-communicable diseases such as diabetes and cancer, in addition to general ailments.
According to the World Health Organisation, the rise of non-communicable diseases in Kenya is more distinct than in the rest of Africa. Deaths as a result of non-communicable diseases in Kenya rose by 44 percent between the year 2000 and 2012 against the East African rate of 26 percent.
Kenya Diabetes Management and Information Centre Executive Director Eva Muchemi noted that from the just concluded medical camps, at least 5 percent of those who got screened for diabetes turned positive.
“We are keen on creating awareness on non-communicable diseases which is why we encourage those who attend the free medical camps to screen for diabetes and other non-communicable diseases,” Muchemi said.
“This way, we are able to capture those who may be suffering but are not aware,” she concluded.
