Safari Doctors Bringing Healthcare to Remote Kenya

Posted on :Monday , 30th October 2017

The UNICEF has hailed Kenya as a “success” for their constant efforts to fight poverty and work towards a better economic environment. However, while they have succeeded in this sphere, they have failed elsewhere.

For all the progress made across a variety of sectors of the Kenyan economy, the medical sphere still remains terribly understaffed with only 1 doctor and 12 nurses available every 10,000 people in the nation today.

This situation has only worsened with the disruptive activities perpetuated by the Islamic-terror group al-Shabaab, which has been targeting the eastern coast of the country. Al-Shabaab has caused many aid groups to flee their posts in fear of their personal safety.

Statistically, only 4.5 percent of Kenya’s GDP has been invested in medical services and healthcare. And wherever, health care has been made available, the quality of it has been lacking greatly.

This is what has prompted Umra Omar, a native of Lamu Archipelago on Kenya’s eastern coast to establish ‘Safari Doctors’. Omar is an alumnus of a reputed university in the USA and decided to head back to her homeland to help those in need.

‘Safari Doctors’ is Omar’s way of “giving back” to the nation of her birth. Safari Doctors use boats to travel to areas that are away from the mainland and are not accessible to provide a range of medical services. It provides free basic medical assistance to those in Lamu and its surrounding areas. The services Safari Doctors provides include immunizations, maternal health care and treatment for malaria and other common diseases. Omar and her foundation service as many as 1000 people on an annual basis and each trip are planned in accordance to the funding at hand prior to the trip.

Omar said, “It was a kind of sense of responsibility to come back to where I was born.” With approximately six villages in Lamu with zero access to healthcare, residents are alienated as a boat trip from Lamu to one of its surrounding islands can cost as much as $300 or a week of salary.

Omar makes bi-monthly trips to these regions and each trip takes up to four days to complete.

Omar remains a shining example of how one person can make a big difference in overwhelming conditions like that of war and poverty. Her extraordinary efforts have earned her the prestigious CNN Hero of 2016 award.

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