Annual Diabetes Walk 2016 Nairobi and Mombasa Editions

Annual Diabetes Walk 2016

LEFT: Participants of the 2016 Kenya diabetes walk Nairobi edition turn up in numbers, RIGHT: Gertrude’s Mombasa Clinic staff offer first aid services to participants of the Mombasa edition.

Gertrude’s Children’s Hospital joined the rest of Kenyans on Saturday 9th July 2016 to take part in the annual Kenya diabetes walk. The walk was organized by the Diabetes Management & Information Centre (DMI Centre) in partnership with Safaricom. The walk targeted to raise Sh17 million, up from 15.8 million raised the previous year. The walk started and ended at the Carnivore Grounds in Nairobi. Later, participants were treated to entertainment by various local artists as well as testimonies from some of the beneficiaries of the kitty.

In Mombasa, the ministry of Health in partnership with Safaricom held a similar walk at Haller Park Mombasa. Gertrude’s Mombasa Clinic was part of the larger crowd that turned out to take part in the coastal edition.

Speaking before the start of the walk, the Diabetes Management Centre director Eva Muchemi said the main aim of the walk was to create awareness and raise money for children living with diabetes and require insulin. “We still have a large number of people dying every year from diabetes-related complications. This is largely because of the wide gap between the onset of symptoms and diagnosis,” she said.

According to Gertrude’s Children’s Hospital Head of Clinical Services Dr Thomas Ngwiri, there is an estimated 5,000 children with type 1 diabetes in Kenya, most of who die before diagnosis.

The walk takes place at a time when the country has been recording increased cases of diabetes especially among children as young as 4 months. A report by International Diabetes Federation Atlas 2014 further states that Kenya recorded 775,200 new cases of diabetes in 2014 alone.