Home Covid-19 EU and Kenya Red Cross Society donates ksh 7.7M worth of Personal Protective Equipment to Kisumu

EU and Kenya Red Cross Society donates ksh 7.7M worth of Personal Protective Equipment to Kisumu

by Wanjiku Mbugua

Kisumu County has received a major healthcare boost from the charitable organisations to help fight the Corona Pandemic.The Ksh 7.7million worth of P.P.E is expected to benefit the locals.

The equipment will be distributed across health care facilities in the lakeside city in what Governor, Prof. Peter Anyang’ Nyongó says is a major boost to the counties’ health response interventions.  

The donation is part of the Ksh. 636 million grant under the EU Emergency Response Project launched in June 2020 to support the COVID-19 pandemic response activities in 20 counties. The project is being implemented in 11 counties where Kenya Red Cross Society has intensified community sensitization and control including Kisumu, Mandera, Wajir, Garissa, Mombasa, Kwale, Lamu, Kilifi, Migori, Busia, and Kakamega. 

At the handover ceremony, the European Union Ambassador to Kenya, H.E Simon Mordue reaffirmed the EU’s commitment to Kenya during this pandemic. 

“We commend the Government of Kenya for the efforts and measures it has put in place during this COVID-19 period. The robust response has saved lives that could have been potentially lost to the virus. As long as the virus continues to pose a threat anywhere in the world, all humankind remains at risk,” ambassador Mordue said. “We are happy to have stood by the vulnerable at their time of need. Our support to the Kenya Red Cross Society has concretely seen the Kenya Red Cross train almost 45,000 health workers and 165 county rapid response members. This is in addition to our social safety net programme where 20,000 vulnerable households received cash transfers, as a complement to the Ministry of Labour’s Inua Jamii programme.  For three months, 11,250 households received Ksh 5,668 per month and 8,750 households, identified through the Nyumba Kumi system and independently verified by the Kenya Red Cross Society received Ksh 7,668 per month. This is testimony of our commitment to support Kenya during this pandemic,” he added. 

As a member of the COVID-19 national task force, KRCS has been on the frontline in the COVID-19 preparedness and response activities key among them training of healthcare workers and volunteers, distribution of handwashing machines, government community screening and contact tracing, among others.  

On her part, Dr. Asha Mohammed cautioned Kenyans against complacency in the fight to stop pandemic noting this would negate the gains realized over the last six months. 

“While we fully support the President’s move to relax some of the restrictions that have been in place over the last six months so that people can rebuild their lives that have been affected by the pandemic, we urge personal responsibility to ensure that we do not see another spike in infections that may force us to reintroduce the restrictions,” Said Dr. Asha Mohammed, Kenya Red Cross Society Secretary General.  

The County support programme is being implemented by KRCS and Amref Health Africa in 20 counties. Across the 11 Counties, KRCS has distributed PPEs worth Ksh. 85,121,350. Under the project, Kenya Red Cross Society has screened 399,616 people, scaled up Sexual Gender Based Violence (SGBV) campaigns reaching 1,626,197 people and trained 1,677 front line healthcare workers on Maternal Infant and Young Child Nutrition, Infection Prevention and Control and home based care in the 11 Counties 

 “We are extremely grateful for the support the EU and KRCS have accorded to Kisumu County. These collaborative partnerships will help boost counties across different sectors and ensure stability and seamless operations which leads to quality service delivery to Kenyans.” Said Kisumu Governor Anyang Nyongó.  

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