The American surgeon Dr. Richard Bransford received the IF Award 2009 for his work at Bethany Kids at Kijabe Hospital in Kijabe near Nairobi, Kenya. Dr. G.D. Agrawal, founder-CEO of Surgiwear, long-term supplier of shunts and other medical material to the IF projects, handed over the award at the plenary session of the SBA/IF conference in Orlando, Florida, attended by 750 participants.

As missionary doctor, Dr. Bransford started with Dr. Scott Harrison working in Kijabe. In 1998, it became the first Cure hospital where he worked until 2004.

Dr. Bransford and his wife Millie adopted a child with a brain injury that needed a shunt, 12 years ago. Dr. Bransford contacted IF to help more children who needed a shunt. With the help of the Norwegian association, Ryggmargsbrokk- og hydrocephalusforeningen, IF provided the Indian Chabbra shunt free of charge. This was the start of a programme for children with Spina Bifida and Hydrocephalus at the Cure Hospital.

In 2004, the enormous growth of children with Spina Bifida requesting for help at the Cure Hospital encouraged Dr. Bransford to look for expansion and he started a neuropaediatric division at the Kijabe Hospital. Bethany Kids Kijabe is performing around 2000 surgical interventions a year and became the reference centre for Spina Bifida and Hydrocephalus for all Kenya. With a network of outreach clinics, Dr. Bransford developed good postoperative care and started long life support for children with Spina Bifida.

 

Watch a video of Bethany Kids on YouTube.