The Nairobi Hospital’s annual Children’s Charity Heart Fund
Golf Tournament, aimed at raising awareness and support for pediatric cardiac care. This year’s edition
was held under the theme “Giving Little Hearts Big Dreams.”
The
Nairobi Hospital on Friday hosted the Children’s Charity Heart Fund Golf
Tournament at the Karen Country Club to raise funds and awareness for children
living with congenital heart disease (CHD).
Held
under the theme “Giving Little Hearts Big Dreams,” the annual tournament
is also aimed at driving community action around the urgent need for accessible
pediatric heart care in Kenya.
The Children’s Charity Heart Fund has enabled
over 400 children, aged 0 to 12, to receive free, life-saving heart surgeries.
Many of these children are now healthy thanks to the intervention of medical
teams and the generosity of donors and partners.
Speaking after the event, the Nairobi Hospital
CEO Felix Osano emphasised the importance of continued support from partners in
developing sustainable structures for equitable healthcare.
“It is a privilege to have a high number of
corporate partners on board for this tournament. The growth of this charity
event over the years has opened up multiple opportunities to reach more
underserved communities and drive the country’s sustainable healthcare agenda,”
he said.
“It is through these partnerships that we have
been able to expand access to cardiac diagnosis and treatment within the country and give renewed hope to
children with heart diseases. I encourage more corporates and partners to join us
in this noble course towards building resilient and healthy societies.”
The World Health Organization says more than 5,000
children in Kenya require heart surgery for
congenital defects each year. However, only 120 to 150 open-heart surgeries are
performed locally, with an additional 50 to 100 children receiving treatment
abroad. The situation is made more challenging by a severe shortage of
pediatric heart specialists, with fewer than 15 pediatric cardiologists
nationwide and only two hospitals equipped to perform pediatric open-heart
surgery.
Each year, thousands of children are born with
undetected health conditions, many of which are life-threatening. Although CHD
is the world’s most common birth defect, affecting 1 in every 100 live births,
it remains widely unknown, particularly in low and middle-income countries like
Kenya. Notably, a single open surgery can cost up to KES2.5 million, far beyond
the reach of most families.
Speaking at the event, Dr Barcley Onyambu, the
Board Chairperson, emphasised the importance of equitable access to medical
care for children who have serious conditions such as heart diseases as this is
crucial in securing the country’s future generation.
“Advancing the medical field and making it
possible for children to equitably
access medical care for serious conditions such as heart diseases is a key part
of our institutional objectives. Over the years, we have partnered with
like-minded corporate entities to drive sustainable and equitable healthcare
initiatives. This has made it possible to access and impact underserved
communities across the country,” said Dr Onyambu.
This year’s tournament builds on past momentum
by mobilising corporate sponsors, individual donors, professional golfers, and
the community at large. All proceeds will go directly to the Heart Fund,
helping even more children access critical diagnosis, care, and treatment.
The Friday event raised Sh1.1 million against
a target of Sh10 million. The event brought together key partners including NCBA, AAR, Jubilee Insurance and Amref International.