Firms heed the call to help fight coronavirus pandemic

Nakuru based Menengai Oil Refineries Limited is donating one thousand four hundred (1,600) cartons of Menengai Cream soap and Kibuyu Bar Soap to the Kenya Red Cross and Nakuru County government.
 
The company’s head of marketing, Simpson Osiemo, Kenya Red Cross Deputy Secretary-General, Annette Msabeni, and Nakuru County Government’s Health County Officer Mr. Samuel Kingóri, shall spearhead this initiative
 
This is to help complement the efforts by Kenya Red Cross to curb the spread if the Covid-19 pandemic and specifically in low-income areas as well as the vulnerable people across the country.
 
“Covid-19 is a global threat and should not be left to the national and county governments to handle alone. We as MORL shall endeavor to engage in partnerships that make an impact in the lives of ordinary people in the society.”
 
“It has been medically proven that one of the ways to prevent oneself from getting the coronavirus is by thoroughly washing hands with soap and water. With this in mind, we at Menengai Oil Refineries Limited have seen fit to donate our soap to Redcross for distribution to our fellow Kenyans.”
 
Eight more people on Monday tested positive for coronavirus, bringing Kenya’s tally of confirmed cases to 50.
Health Cabinet Secretary Mutahi Kagwe on Monday said Nairobi still leads in the number of cases as community transmissions spiked across the country.
Kenya Red Cross Deputy Secretary General Annette Msabeni receives the Menengai Cream soap consignment at the offices in South C Nairobi.

 

 
This means that the Covid-19 disease is no longer being imported from outside the country but is spreading from one person to another locally.
 
In another effort to combat the pandemic Kenya Breweries Limited (KBL) said on Monday that it has partnered with Amref Health Africa (Amref) and Kenya Red Cross Society (KRCS) for emergency distribution of 135,000 litres of packed sanitizers to frontline health workers and those at high risk of contracting COVID-19, the disease caused by the new coronavirus. 
 
The initiative follows the appeal by the Kenyan government for individual well-wishers and corporate organisations to play their part in the fight against the disease. KBL is spending over Sh50 million in the programme.
 
 Amref Health Africa CEO, Dr. Githinji Gitahi said: “An adequate response to the COVID19 pandemic must be a whole of society approach. To win the war and flatten the curve, we must observe public health measures as advised including physical distancing and handwashing with running water and soap. But we are also aware that in some instances, hand-washing with soap and water may not be practically possible and as such, the need for alcohol-based sanitizers arise and this may be the case in many of our informal settlements as well as workplaces and public transport. This donation, therefore, comes at a crucial time in our response and I want to thank KBL and Diageo. These are extraordinary times - and no one can do it alone.”
Kenya Breweries Limited Managing Director Jane Karuku (center), Annette Msabeni deputy Secretary General Red Cross (right) and Dr. Githinji Gitahi, AMREF Group CEO display free hand sanitizers
Elsewhere, mining firm Base Titanium has made a donation of water tanks and hand washing detergents to the County Government of Kwale as it moves to help contain the spread of COVID-19 (coronavirus).
 
The firm is also set to make a similar donation in Likoni sub-county, Mombasa where it has its largest ship loading facility.
 
The firm's Community Programmes Superintendent, Mwanaharusi Khamis said the mining company has donated water tanks which will be placed in various strategic areas across Kwale County.
 
“This is a partnership between Base Titanium, the County and National Government where we want to set up points that will help residents have access to water to wash their hand and have constant water supply,” said Mwanaharusi.
“We know that a lot of areas in Kwale especially in the market and busy areas such as bus parks  lack watering points and this is why we want to put the tanks in those areas.”
 
The official said Base Titanium will also be providing five villages that border the Kwale mine site in Maumba with trucked water both for domestic use and also help them have clean water to wash their hands.
 
In the meantime, Base through its Community Health Volunteers will sponsor fumigation programmes in Kwale to support fight against the coronavirus.
 
Diani Municipal Manager Hamisi Mwandaro thanked the firm for their donation.
 
He called on other firms in Kwale to follow suit and support ventures aimed at containing the spread of the deadly virus.
 
“We are delighted by this initiative. As a municipality and county, we have been taking initiatives to break the chain of spreading the coronavirus,” Mwandaro said.
 
He noted that Diani being a tourism hub, the coronavirus had affected the livelihood of many people who depend on tourism for their daily activities.
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