30th April, 2010
New partnership tackling maternal health
The Stavros Foundation confirms a substantial grant to fund AMREF's Maternal, Newborn and Child Health project in Nairobi, Kenya.
The project is based in one of Africa’s largest slums, Kibera. It is home to almost one million people tightly packed into an area no bigger than two square kilometres. Residents of the slum do not have access to running water, sanitation, lighting, refuse collection or health facilities. There is extreme poverty and overcrowding, leaving women and children most vulnerable to disease and illness.
The project will provide over 40,000 mothers and 35,000 children in Kibera with good quality health care, treatment and education. We are training community health workers, nurses and midwives to ensure high quality health care for women and children. Given the large number of unregulated private health providers in Nairobi’s slums, the project supports training of these service providers to ensure quality care is accessible and ensured for mothers and children. The project will also partner with community based organisations, including mother’s groups and youth groups, to collectively promote improved services for mothers and children in Kibera.
The Stavros Niarchos Foundation is an international philanthropic organization, making grants in the areas of arts and culture, education, health and medicine, and social welfare. While prominent in its support of Greek-related initiatives, the Foundation’s activities are worldwide in scope. Since the beginning of its grantmaking efforts in 1996, the Stavros Niarchos Foundation has provided total grant commitments of Euro €861,000,000 through more than 1,800 grants to nonprofit organizations, in 90 nations across the world.