Shoe4Africa Childrens Hospital


The Shoe4Africa Children's Hospital is the first dedicated public children's hospital of its kind in East & Central Africa, and was the second dedicated public children's hospital in Sub-Saharan Africa. Groundbreaking took place on December 31, 2012, construction began on July 7, 2013, and the foundation stone was set on August 21, 2013. The 105-bed hospital was opened its doors to the public on 12 August 2015 and has upgraded, year by year, to 200-bed in 2018. The institution is a teaching hospital partnering with the Moi University. The site is in the center of Eldoret, the capital of Uasin Gishu county, Kenya. This hospital seeks to help an under-served community where one in one in eight children die before their 5th birthday and 2/3rds of these deaths are from treatable/preventable diseases. 80% of these children will have never seen a healthcare provider in their short life. With ISO 9001:2008 status and 200-beds the hospital aims to bring quality healthcare to the public sector.
The hospital is a project of Shoe4Africa, a New York charity focused on creating better health and education outcomes focused in Eastern Africa. Donors have included the Clinton Foundation, notable names such as Cristiano Ronaldo, Natalie Portman, Rosario Dawson, Ryan Reynolds, Hugh Jackman, Mark Webber, and Anthony Edwards. The charity has also raised significant funding for the hospital, and other building projects, through individual donations and the efforts of runners that run Marathons and other road races throughout the world and raise funds through their participation.
Dr. John Kibosia, CEO of Kenya's second largest national hospital, said the new facility will be the only one of its kind in the East & Central African region. "It will be another milestone for the hospital and the health sector in the country." The project is expected to cost, at the final completion, Two billion Kenya shillings
On January, 7th 2016, Toby Tanser and Dr. Wilson Aruasa laid the foundation stone for the 'Eat & Run' kitchen. The new, dedicated kitchen facility will be located next to the Shoe4Africa Children Hospital and will provide child-friendly nutrition for malnourished patients of the hospital. Funding for the kitchen has been secured by the German chapter of Shoe4Africa through a charity run of 500 school kids of the Grandlschule, a primary school based in Munich, Germany.
In the Summer of 2017 annexed buildings were constructed to alleviate the hospital. The first to be used as Immunization Center for healthy children and HIV patients, the second as a play center to complement the four interior playrooms. In 2018 a court was added, opened by the world record holder in the marathon, Mary Keitany, servicing the patients and the medical school students. The charity announced that a soccer pitch would be the next edition to help kids rehabilitate and in May 2019 the men's marathon world record holder, Eliud Kipchoge, opened the astro-turf soccer pitch, and later in the year the Kuunga Mkono classrooms were added to the hospital so that the children won't fall behind in education whilst hospitalized, making the institution the first hospital in Africa to have children's classrooms inside its complex.