The M-Pesa Foundation, in partnership with Gertrude’s Children’s Hospital, targets to provide access to medical care for five million children over the next five years through Daktari Smart – a telemedicine programme run by the hospital.
The initial phase of the programme aims to treat at least 32,400 children in five counties of Narok, Samburu, Baringo, Homa Bay, and Lamu.
The partners also aim to directly treat 45,000 children with rare and complex non-communicable diseases, such as cancer and cardiovascular disease.
Robert Nyarango, the CEO of Gertrude’s Children’s Hospital, has stated that incorporating telemedicine technology into healthcare programmes will provide quality, affordable care while increasing coverage and reducing preventable child deaths.
“There is an opportunity to serve more children through working together as stakeholders to increase the number of counties on Daktari Smart to support the limited number of paediatricians and other specialists. At such a scale and with the communities covered under the Social Health Insurance Fund, the healthcare system will be strengthened to deliver high-quality early diagnosis and more efficient utilisation of the available scarce healthcare resources,” said Dr Nyarango.
Since its launch in 2021, the Daktari Smart initiative has been providing specialised pediatric healthcare services in the five counties.
