THE Safaricom Foundation has partnered with a research institution toconstruct a maternity clinic in the remote village of Loreng'elup, TurkanaCentral constituency. The Loreng'elup Maternity Clinic will serve about 1,000 women of child-bearing age who havebeen walking for more than 40 kilometres to the LodwarDistrict Hospital, the nearest public health facility in the area. It has been constructed by the Foundation in partnership with the Turkana BasinInstitute at Sh1.8 million.

According to Ikal Ang'elei, the TurkanaBasin Institute's Programme Coordinator, the situation is aggravated by poor road infrastructure. Commissioning the project, Safaricom Foundation chairman LesBaillie, saidbesides complementing global efforts to reduce mortality rates, the eight-bed maternity clinic is inline with Kenya's development agenda of providing an efficient and highquality health care.

The construction of the eight-bed capacitymaternity unit by the Safaricom Foundation has been necessitated by the factthat mothers lack specialized attention to complications at birth as in mostcases, they rely on traditional birth attendants for assistance duringante-natal, labor, delivery and post-natal phases which result to infant andmaternal deaths, most of which go unreported.

According to Ikal Ang'elei, TurkanaBasin Institute's Programme Coordinator, the situation is aggravated bythe poor inaccessible roads. While commissioning the project, LesBaillie, Chairman, Safaricom Foundation noted that the maternity clinic,besides complementing global efforts to reduce mortality rates, it is also inline with Kenya's development agenda of providing an efficient and highquality health care system with the best standards.