| Shoe4Africa Childrens Hospital | |
| Org/Group: | Shoe4Africa |
| Location: | Eldoret |
| Region: | Uasin Gishu County |
| Country: | Kenya |
| Healthcare: | Public Health Service |
| Type: | Teaching |
| Speciality: | Children's hospital |
| Emergency: | Yes |
| Affiliation: | Moi Teaching and Referral Hospital (MTRH) |
| Beds: | 200 |
| Founded: | August 12th, 2015 |
| Coordinates: | 0.5102°N 35.2801°W |
Shoe4Africa Children's Hospital is a specialty hospital in Eldoret, Kenya founded in 2015. It is the first dedicated public children's hospital in East and Central Africa[1] & second in Sub-Saharan Africa, after the Red Cross War Memorial Children's Hospital in Cape Town, which opened in 1956.
The hospital is the flagship project of Shoe4Africa, a New York charity focused on creating better health and education outcomes in Eastern Africa. Its construction had an estimated cost of two billion Kenyan Shillings,[2] an amount that celebrity donations from the likes of Cristiano Ronaldo, Anthony Edwards, and Natalie Portman helped meet.[3]
The Shoe4Africa Children's Hospital operates as a teaching hospital in partnership with Moi University, and the Moi Teaching and Referral Hospital, Kenya's second-largest national hospital, governs the Shoe4Africa Children's Hospital and the land it is built upon. As of 2024, the hospital is treating over 430 in-patients and out-patients per day. .
Construction for S4A began in 2013 and was completed two years later on 12 August 2015, when the hospital opened officially. Initially a 105-bed[4] hospital, it was expanded to 150 beds by 2018,[5] and to 250 in 2020.
Construction of a dedicated kitchen facility to be located next to the children's hospital occurred in 2016; it provides child-friendly nutrition for malnourished patients at the hospital.[6]
In the summer of 2017, annexed buildings were constructed to alleviate overcrowding. The first was used as an immunization center for healthy children and HIV patients, while the second served as a play center to complement the four indoor playrooms.
In 2018, a basketball court was added for patients and for medical school students. The charity announced that a soccer pitch would follow to help children rehabilitate,[7] and in May 2019, an AstroTurf soccer pitch was opened. Later in the year, the Kuunga Mkono classrooms were added to the hospital, making the institution the first hospital in Africa to have children's classrooms inside its complex.[8]
In 2022, Shoe4Africa celebrated treating its millionth patient.[9]
Construction of the Harry J. Dyer Burns Unit, a planned 35-bed center for treating burns, started in December 2023.
Also planned is a 152-bed pediatric cancer hospital, the Shoe4Africa Juli Anne Perry Children's Cancer Hospital, to be built next door to the children's facility to improve on the existing 30-bed ward space.[10] Construction started in January 2024.[11]