Sponsors of the MTN marathon at the press launch on Tuesday (Photo/Courtesy)
MTN Uganda has on Tuesday, October 15, 2019, launched the 16th edition of the annual Kampala Marathon.
The MTN Kampala Marathon, now in its 16th year has been a mainstay on the Ugandan sports calendar giving participants “A good reason to run” because apart from running for health and fitness, they get to contribute towards a community benefiting project.
The proceeds from this year’s marathon will go towards improving maternal health services across the country.
“There are an estimated 336 deaths per 100,000 live births making Uganda’s maternal mortality one of the highest in the world. The proceeds from the marathon and regional runs will be used to upgrade/improve maternal services in health centre IV facilities across the country,” said Sen Somdev, MTN Uganda Ag. Chief Marketing Officer.
“80% of the maternal and newborn deaths are preventable with the implementation of known evidence-based high impact interventions and these are the interventions that the proceeds from the marathon will be dedicated to implementing. And that’s a good reason to run.” He added.
Huawei, Stanbic Bank, New Vision, Rwenzori, and Spedag Interfreight have also announced funding for the 2019 edition of the MTN Kampala Marathon.
This year, the MTN Kampala Marathon will be preceded by regional runs in the towns of Soroti, Arua and Masaka on Sunday 3rd, 10th and 17th November respectively. Registration for these runs will be UGX 10,000 cash or UGX 8,000/- per runner using MTN MoMoPay and the proceeds will be utilized for the same cause in the same communities.
Collections from previous events have been used in a number of projects, in the early years towards the provision of ‘Mama Bags’ to expectant mothers in the Internally Displaced People’s camps in Gulu and most recently to different water and sanitation projects around the country including Kotido, Karamoja, Amuria and Kiryandongo in Masindi.
