Giving children a safe start to life in Lurambi

Through mosquito nets and clean water solutions at Emusanda Health Centre, families in Lurambi are giving their children the protection they need from the very beginning. Three out of every four malaria deaths are in children under 5 years old. In Kenya, over 3 million cases of malaria are reported every year. In the Lurambi area of the country, the disease is endemic, making access to bed nets critical to protect communities from malaria.

In 2009, Vestergaard rehabilitated the Emusanda Health Centre in Lurambi, establishing a community clinic to deliver essential primary, maternal, newborn, and paediatric care to the local community. Our sister company LifeStraw has continued to build and develop the facility, upgrading the maternity ward with pre- and postnatal services. The centre is locally managed by the county government of Kakamega.

Protection against malaria helps ensure children have the best start to life. As such, we give PermaNet mosquito nets to every mother who gives birth at the Emusanda Health Centre, as well as to all families with children under 5 years old accessing care. Each family also receives a LifeStraw household water purifier, and the LifeStraw team continues to support the clinic by filling staffing gaps and providing essential medications, so the facility can operate around the clock.

In 2024, 361 babies were born at Emusanda and we provided 450 PermaNet bed nets to young families to help keep them safe. Since the facility was created, 6,305 PermaNet nets have been donated to families accessing Emusanda health services.