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Eight roads will be closed this Saturday as the Mater Heart run kicks off.
Kenyatta Avenue, Uhuru Highway, Valley Road and Parliament Road will be closed at 7am as the event begins.
Other roads which will be closed include Mbagathi Way, Lang’ata Road, Aerodrome Road and City Hall Way.
Initially held only in Nairobi, the Heart Run has grown over the years and is now held in nine different towns; Nairobi, Mombasa, Machakos, Mumias, Meru, Kisumu, Nyeri, Eldoret and Nakuru.
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Traffic officers will be deployed at affected junctions and roundabouts along the listed roads to control traffic.
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Some of the participants during an edition of the Mater Heart Run
Purpose of event
The Mater Heart Run was started in 2002 to help fundraise for the Cardiac program.
The cardiac program was started in 1995 to cater for children who cannot afford the surgery and the first open-heart surgery was performed in 1996.
This was in line with the Values of the Sisters of Mercy, which emphasize compassion for all and seek to uplift the lives of the underprivileged in society.
To date over 3000 heart procedures have been performed courtesy of the support from well-wishers.
Most of these surgeries were done at Mater Misericordiae hospital by Kenyan doctors, with a few being referred overseas or done by visiting Cardiologists.