NPL Mother’s Fun Run raises record K31.5m for Mangochi

Mother’s Day Fun Run yesterday raised a historic K31.5 million for Mangochi District Hospital and its satellite health facilities.
This is a 50 per cent jump from K21 million the event raised last year for Rumphi District Hospital, David Gordon Memorial Hospital, Katowo and Chitimba health centres.
The Fun Run has since its inception in 2005 raised about K100 million for 13 health facilities across the country.
It is one of Nation Publications Limited’s (NPL)  corporate social responsibility (CSR) project whose aim is to raise funds for the purchase of medical supplies and equipment for maternity wings of facilities in the country.
This year’s exercise was a two-kilometre run from Ayiche Wosope (which is close to a mini-forest as we approach Mangochi Boma) to the district commissioner’s (DC) office.
Donning white Mother’s Day Fun Run T-shirts with a slogan “Promoting Safe Motherhood”, NPL employees, strategic project partners and other well-wishers braved the sweltering heat of Mangochi to raise funds for mothers and their babies in the lakeshore district.
After the event, runners proceeded to Mangochi District Hospital’s maternity wing— led by NPL chief executive officer Mbumba Banda and chairperson of the Parliamentary Committee on Health Julian Lunguzi—to present assorted non-medical supplies to mothers and their newborns.
Speaking after the run, Banda thanked partners and other well-wishers for enduring the heat to raise funds for the district.
“For the past nine years, NPL has been hosting Mother’s Day Fun Run to honour Malawi’s mothers through life-saving action.
“Today, we have run to raise awareness about their plight and showcase that together as citizens and institutions, we can play our part in addressing the dire situation existing in our public hospitals that affect them. This is why NPL has relentlessly pursued the promotion of safe motherhood in Malawi,” she said.
In Malawi, 550 expectant women per every 100 000 die during childbirth which Banda described as ‘unacceptably too high’.
“Even by African standards and despite the decline in maternal and infant mortality in the country, Malawi has one of the highest maternal mortality rates on the continent. These deaths are unnecessary as they are preventable,” she said.
Banda said Malawi has competent doctors, nurses and midwives, but hospitals lack medical supplies and equipment for them to deliver. She asked partners and other well-wishers for more support.
Most of project partners pledged continued support to the fun run.
“As long as Mother’s Fun Run does not change its objectives, Press Trust will continue supporting it,” said Press Trust trustee Ben Chidyaonga.
Lunguzi, who was also guest of honour at the event, thanked NPL and its partners for the medical supplies and equipment.
She challenged politicians, businesspeople, corporate partners and other well-wishers to emulate NPL and its partners in coming up with innovative ways of making money for the health sector so that expectant women stop dying needlessly.
District medical officer Dr Jeoffrey Jooma, Member of Parliament for Mangochi Masongola Rashid Pemba and Traditional Authority (T/A) Mponda representative thanked NPL and its partners for the medical equipment, saying it will help reduce maternal deaths in the district. n