Mildmay Kenya: Refurbishment of the Health Centre on Mageta Island in Lake Victoria
To improve healthcare standards and encourage wider use of the clinic, we repaired and refurbished the health centre on Mageta Island.
Context
Mageta Island, off the eastern shores of Lake Victoria near Siaya County, had some of Kenya’s highest HIV prevalence and child mortality rates, with widespread malaria and TB. Access to care was hampered by difficult terrain, few roads, limited transport, and no grid electricity. The island’s only health centre, converted from colonial‑era detention cells from the Mau Mau periodwas under‑equipped and uninviting, so many people avoided it except the poorest with no alternative. The health centre is the only one for all 12,000 inhabitants of the island.
What we did
We repaired, refitted and re‑equipped the facility to make it safer, cleaner, and more usable, and to increase attendance across the community.
Facelift and infection control: repainting; new tiled floors in maternity and wards; curtains for 8 windows; partitioning rooms to restore privacy in the general ward.
Functionality upgrades: solar lighting; staff accommodation on‑site; improved support supervision; regular Continuous Medical Education (CME).
Service environment: baby‑friendly mother‑and‑child clinic with brighter colours and murals; expanded health outreach; community mobilisation to improve health‑seeking behaviour.
Essential equipment: examination lamp; adjustable delivery couch; patient monitor; mobile medication trolley; Resuscitaire; infant weighing scale; fetal Doppler; oxygen cylinders (including portable) and concentrator; electric suction machine; postnatal beds; patient cabinets; incubators; wheelchair; patient trolley; 6 beds with mattresses and linen.
Why it was needed
The centre lacked basic equipment and was in poor physical condition, undermining trust and uptake. Evidence showed distance and poor transport sharply reduced facility use; improving the clinic’s capability and environment was essential to save mothers’ and babies’ lives and to manage common conditions.
Costs
Total project cost was £24,500.
Refurbishment: £12,600
Equipment: £11,900
Expected outcomes
A safer, cleaner, better‑equipped clinic meeting community needs.
A more robust maternal health service able to handle emergencies and achieve successful births the vast majority of the time.
Increased attendance and improved outcomes across the population, with particular benefit to high‑risk groups.
Better health literacy through outreach and education.
Motivated, better‑trained staff with pride in improved care.
A benchmark local facility—an adaptable model for other rural Kenyan settings.
Project progress
The interior of the health centre was repaired, renovated and repainted, with new tiled flooring replacing earthen/bare concrete surfaces, a significant step in infection control and patient experience.
Services
The centre provided basic sexual and reproductive health (immunisation, antenatal, postnatal, family planning) and general outpatient services for communicable and non‑communicable diseases, and served as the base for the Safe Motherhood Project, the emergency tuk‑tuk ambulance, and community outreach and education.
Background
During the 1952–1960 Mau Mau Uprising, Mageta was used as a detention site; later, the cells were converted into a health facility. Devolution (from 2010) led to recurrent funding prioritisation and persistent gaps in drug supply and capital investment.
Mildmay, which had supported remote western Kenyan communities for over two decades, complemented the refurbishment by purchasing a tuk‑tuk ambulance in 2018 to improve access to maternity and HIV services and to act as a mobile treatment centre.
