MaterCare seeks G8-initiative funds for Kenya hospital
By Vanessa Santilli-Raimondo, The Catholic Register
MaterCare International has applied for funding from the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA) as part of the Muskoka Initiative Partnership Program, a program born out of last summer’s G8 Summit.
Under its Partners for Development Program, CIDA launched a $75-million call for projects over $500,000 “to take a comprehensive and integrated approach to address maternal, newborn and child health,” according to its web site. With its application at the end of January, MaterCare, a St. John’s, Nfld. based non-governmental organization of health care professionals aiming to reduce abortion and maternal mortality, is looking for funding for a hospital for high-risk mothers in Isiolo, Kenya.
Under its Partners for Development Program, CIDA launched a $75-million call for projects over $500,000 “to take a comprehensive and integrated approach to address maternal, newborn and child health,” according to its web site. With its application at the end of January, MaterCare, a St. John’s, Nfld. based non-governmental organization of health care professionals aiming to reduce abortion and maternal mortality, is looking for funding for a hospital for high-risk mothers in Isiolo, Kenya.
“What we’ve applied for is three-year funding to get this hospital we’re building in Kenya up and operational,” said Simon Walley, project manager for MaterCare International. “The project has been on the go for the last number of years and we haven’t received any government funding for it.”
The cost is almost $5 million. Money raised to date has come from donors, women’s organizations, a few foundations, the States of Guernsey in the Channel Islands and the Italian bishops.
Right now, work on the project has been divided into two phases, since not all the funding is in place, said Walley. The first is to construct the hospital, while the next phase, for which MaterCare is looking for funding, is to cover the operating costs and more training.
“We’ll continue with the traditional birth attendant training, the training of nurses, the hiring of nurses and doctors and getting this hospital area finished,” said Walley. “What we’ll have to provide as well is accommodation for nurses and doctors as a way of attracting them to work up in northern Kenya.”
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