GE Healthcare Rewards Healthy Living in Kenya
By Staff Writer
Nairobi – General Electric (GE) announced Wednesday that it will donate US$20,000 to Kenya’s Red Cross, as part of the final stage of GE Healthcare’s global “Get Fit” initiative in which the Middle East and Africa region was recently awarded “the winning continent” as a result of the highest number of individual tweets per the competition’s guidelines.
As part of GE’s global healthymagination initiative, in June 2011 GE Healthcare launched a two-month “Get Fit” Twitter global campaign to encourage individuals across six continents to reach the highest number of tweets by sharing ways to get fitter and healthier and thereby raising awareness around cancer prevention and healthy living. The tweet progress per continent could be seen on a colourful online visualization map. At stake was a $20,000 donation from GE Healthcare to the Red Cross or Red Crescent Society of a single country within the winning continent, as determined by an online voting poll at the end of the competition. With a surge in votes in the final few days of the online poll, Kenya garnered the most votes, and the Kenya Red Cross Society received the donation.
“We are pleased to be making a contribution to the Kenya Red Cross for its humanitarian work,” said Jay Ireland, president and CEO for GE Africa.
“The Kenya Red Cross takes consideration of the health and wellbeing of individuals during times of disaster situations, such as the recent pipeline explosion. Their numerous accomplishments, including its centers’ around the world – are testament of the great strides they have taken in making a difference to the lives of those who need relief most.”
The Kenya Red Cross Society Secretary General, Mr. Abbas Gullet, said: “The Kenya Red Cross Society has been leading the effort to alleviate human suffering resulting from the drought and through the Kenyans for Kenya Initiative, we have mobilised KES 700,000,000 in cash and a further 300,000,000 in kind from ordinary Kenyans and the business community.”
Mr. Ireland said: “GE and GE Healthcare, endeavors to follow a similar philosophy through our commitment to advancing access to quality and affordable healthcare on the continent through our bases in Kenya, South Africa, Nigeria, Angola and Ghana. Through healthymagination, GE aims to shape a new age of patient care through transformational medical technologies and services, which allow the provision of better healthcare to more people at affordable costs. GE believes Africa’s solutions must emanate from Africa and is achievable through partnerships with government and private enterprises.
“These enable a holistic foundation for good health and wellbeing.”
GE Healthcare provides a broad range of products and services for healthcare providers to better diagnose and treat conditions such as heart disease, neurological diseases, and cancer earlier. The ‘Get Fit’ campaign sought to raise awareness of cancer, one of the leading causes of deaths around the world. It is expected that by 2020, new cases of cancer are projected to reach about 15 million per year with 70 per cent of these occurring in developing countries and over one million in the Africa region.