Joho receives First Lady Margaret Kenyatta as she donates mobile clinic to Mombasa County

MOMBASA, KENYA: The first lady Margaret Kenyatta over the weekend took her Beyond Zero campaign to Mombasa County where she delivered a Mobile clinic truck to help boost the delivery services of mothers in the county.

The mobile clinic will be used to deliver essential services such as vaccination, ante-natal care, HIV testing and treatment.

It was received by Mombasa governor Hassan Ali Joho who hailed the donation saying it will compliment the county government's efforts to implement health programmes across Mombasa county's six sub-counties. He said the donation will be given to one of the sub-counties while his administration will buy five mobile clinics for the other five sub-counties.

While handing over the 14th mobile clinic to the county government, as the nation celebrates World Aids Day, Margaret said that the clinic is expected to complement the efforts of the county government to deliver effective and efficient health services to delivering mothers.

She said that HIV and AIDS remained a public health challenge in the County with a prevalence of 7.4 percent way higher than the national average.

"Disappointingly, only slightly more than 50 percent of HIV positive pregnant women attend the four recommended antenatal visits in Mombasa and these figures have financial implications for the County's resources as more funds will be required to reduce mother to child transmission and to provide treatment and care," said the first lady, adding that no child or mother should die from preventable causes and that HIV transmission from mother to child should be prevented.

Margaret said the launch of the Strategic Framework for the Office of the First Lady for engagement in HIV Control and Promotion of Maternal, Newborn and Child Health in Mombasa one year ago on World AIDS Day was triggered by the fact that over 5,500 Kenyan mothers die every year during childbirth and over 100,000 children die early in life.