WDCAC - DST International Awareness

International Awareness and Involvement

Mary Help of the Sick Mission Hospital (formerly Thika Memorial Hospital)

Concerns of adequate prenatal and maternity care for women in Africa helped Delta Sigma Theta to build the Mary Help of the Sick Mission Hospital. In 1955, Delta Sigma Theta Sorority established a maternity wing and health services in Thika Town, Kenya. Plans for a facility was formed in the early 1960s when the sorority financed the Thika Maternity Hospitalâ€™s construction, which is now Mary Help of the Sick Mission Hospital. The first hospital opened after Kenya gained independence in 1963. Missionary sisters of the Holy Rosary operate the hospital.

In 1985, Delta Sigma Theta members visited the hospital and witnessed an increased population and an increased infant mortality rate in and around Thika. In response, the sorority donated over $20,000, which was led to the establishment of two additional maternity wards and an administrative office.

Mary Help of the Sick Mission Hospital now has 120 beds, providing affordable prenatal and postnatal care, nutritional education, child immunization, and family planning. The hospital gives prenatal care, including lab work, blood tests, and examinations daily for more than two hundred women. The facility also has a special care nursery for newborn babies. The hospital also serves as a nurse and midwife educational institutions. Over 66 students are trained each year.