West of Ireland Partnership

West of Ireland Partnership

Since 2004, Mayo University Hospital (MUH, formerly Mayo General Hospital) has been part of a long-standing health partnership with Londiani Sub-County Hospital in Kenya, facilitated by Brighter Communities Worldwide.

What began as a shared interest among obstetric, midwifery, nursing and hospital management staff grew into a partnership built on trust, mutual respect and a shared commitment to improving care in rural health settings — in both Kenya and Ireland.

Over two decades, Irish and Kenyan teams have worked side by side to strengthen clinical skills, improve services and learn from each other’s realities. Collaboration has focused on emergency and trauma care, essential obstetric and newborn care, surgical and peri-operative care, non-communicable diseases, primary trauma care and remote emergency care. Learning has flowed in both directions, shaped by real-world challenges and practical, locally grounded solutions.

The partnership has always been rooted in people-to-people exchange. Clinicians, nurses, midwives, managers and educators have traveled between Ireland and Kenya, learning directly from each other’s settings and experience. When COVID-19 disrupted travel, the link adapted quickly — moving online, supporting LSCH with PPE, and helping establish a vaccine centre — ensuring the partnership remained active when it was needed most.

In 2019, the partnership entered a renewed phase focused on quality improvement, education and long-term sustainability, with University of Galway joining the collaboration to strengthen shared learning and health worker education.

In 2025, with support from the Irish Global Health Network, partners took time to reflect on more than 20 years of shared work. The resulting impact report captures the depth of the partnership, documents real changes in clinical practice and systems, and introduces practical tools to support continued learning, impact tracking and joint planning into the future.

Read the Ireland–Kenya Health Partnership Impact Report (2004–2025)