Capital Campaign

Background: The Nyanza Reproductive Health Society (NRHS) has operated out of its current location, the UNIM Research and Training Centre (URTC), since its founding in 2002. The URTC was constructed on the grounds of the Lumumba Health Centre near central Kisumu with funds from the U.S. and Canadian governments raised through grants by Drs. Robert Bailey of the University of Illinois and Stephen Moses of the University of Manitoba. The URTC was originally built to house the groundbreaking randomized controlled trial of male circumcision to reduce HIV acquisition. The results of that trial were reported on the cover of Time Magazine as the Medical Breakthrough of 2008. Since then, the URTC has been a center of excellence serving the Kisumu community, preventing thousands of new HIV and STD infections and reducing mortality and morbidity in the community in countless ways. Over the years, it has become a vital community health facility providing free services to thousands of Kisumu citizens while also serving as a critical site for numerous research studies that have provided the evidence for new, lifesaving interventions.

NRHS is approaching an existential moment in its 24-year history. We have been informed that the provincial government will likely take over the URTC after the next national elections, which are scheduled for August, 2027. The government wants the facility to be added to the Lumumba sub-District Hospital. NRHS will be required to vacate the facility and find a new location for its clinical, laboratory, and administrative services. Without a facility, NRHS will have to cease as an entity. It would liquidate its assets and, as painlessly as possible, terminate its highly skilled staff, who in some cases have been with the organization for decades.

Capital Campaign – Building for the Next 25 Years: Aheadkenya is committed to assisting NRHS to raise the funds necessary to buy a plot of land in Kisumu and to build a new facility that will include clinical, laboratory, and administrative space to enable NRHS to continue its vital health services and groundbreaking health research. We estimate that we must break ground on a new facility by September 2027 to demonstrate that we are intent on moving, and then have another year to raise the additional funds necessary to complete the project. Our goal is to raise a total of $900,000, with an initial $450,000 target before September 2027. If we reach $450,000 by September 2027, NRHS survives. If we don't, it doesn't. And if the total $900,000 target is met, NRHS more than survives; it thrives.

There are many ways you can help Aheadkenya achieve its goal of ensuring NRHS’s future. Every gift, at every level, brings this facility closer to reality. For those who wish to leave a lasting mark, naming opportunities are available for specific key spaces in the new facility such as the laboratory, a clinical room, a surgical theater, or the waiting bay. To learn more or to discuss how your gift can make the greatest impact, reach out to Robert Bailey at rcbailey@aheadkenya.org. Together, we can ensure that NRHS sustains its groundbreaking and lifesaving research and services through the next generation.