Biltema Foundation funds first KidsOR in refugee setting

We are delighted to welcome a new partnership with the Biltema Foundation that will see the creation of the first ever dedicated surgical service for children in a refugee setting.

We have received a quarter of a million pounds of funding from the Swedish-based foundation which will see this project now move to completion, with the first operation expected early next year.

The Biltema Foundation was set up to help vulnerable people by contributing to education, healthcare and welfare and you can read more about them here.

Announcing the donation, Louise Wennberg of the Biltema Foundation confirmed the partnership and said she “and everyone at the Foundation were excited to be working with Kids Operating Room to deliver these lifesaving and life-changing services for children who are all-too-often forgotten about.”

The new Operating Room will be in the Kakuma Camp in North West Kenya. Home to some 197,000 people, the camp was established as a temporary facility in 1992 and is now the size of a small city. The new facility will also provide care for children from surrounding communities and is expected to care for up to 1,000 children every year.

Our Africa Director Rosemary Mugwe expressed her delight at the partnership. “I have been to this camp and have seen first-hand the challenges these children face. We are excited to be moving a genuinely important project forward and for the world’s first such service for refugee children to be here in Kenya.”

“Children who get sick or critically injured in the camp or wider region may struggle to access care or have to be transported on an 8-hour journey to the nearest suitable hospital. The cost to make this journey is often beyond the means of many families.

”Thanking the Foundation for their “generosity and inspiring leadership shown through their willingness to support the world’s most vulnerable children’, our co-founder Garreth Wood said: “This is a unique project where we will deliver an entirely new service for the sickest children in one of the most difficult to reach places. We know these lifesaving projects work and we know it will provide care for thousands of children in the years to come.

“We are extremely grateful and happy to welcome the Biltema Foundation into this high-impact partnership.”

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