By PSCU
First Lady Margaret Kenyatta yesterday visited the Beijing Women and Children Social Service centre that specializes in the protection of the rights, interests and health of vulnerable women and minors in China.
After an extensive tour of the wellness centre , the First Lady said the institution’s unique work towards the protection and empowerment of women and children needs to be replicated elsewhere in the world.
The First Lady is in China accompanying President Uhuru Kenyatta who is attending the Belt and Roads Forum for International Cooperation.
The six-year old Beijing wellness Centre is an initiative of the Beijing Women Federation and offers essential services to empower women, children and their families.
The centre is the first and the only social service facility of its kind in Beijing whose population stands at 30 million people, half of them women.
The Beijing Women Federation aims to represent women’s rights and interests by promoting their development to ensure that vulnerable communities are protected from inequality and social injustices.
Besides protecting women and ensuring their rights, the social centre facilitates needy ones and their children to receive social assistance including such services as marriage, family education , innovation and employment, household management, counseling and crises intervention .
The centre is the training base for women’s talents to encourage they contribute to the city’s economic development. To date, the facility has provided a total of 133,000 services to women, children and their families.
The First Lady commended the Beijing Women Federation for its innovative approach in establishing the centre providing specialized services that fall outside hospital care.
“Facilities offering such holistic care for women and children will go along way in helping families actualize their full potential”, said the First Lady whose ultimate goal is to establish an ultar-modern referral hospital and a wellness centre under the aegis of the Beyond Zero initiative.
The First Lady is the patron of the Beyond Zero campaign whose aims include improving on the health challenges of mothers and children around the country.
Plans for the proposed Sh 2.2 billion specialized hospital for women and children are at an advanced stage.
The First Lady was received at the centre by the President of the Beijing Women Federation Ma Lanxia and the Vice President Zhao Lijun.
The Director of the centre Li Yue conducted the tour of the facility.
