Amsterdam/Eldoret – 2007-11-07

World Champion Cross Country and long-distance runner Lornah Kiplagat, has joined the charitable organization Doctor 2 Doctor as its ambassador. Doctor 2 Doctor is a cooperative effort between the VU Medical Center, KLM, Kenya Airways and the subsidiary KLM Health Services and is dedicated to improving child health care in Kenya. Ms. Kiplagat announced her intentions yesterday during a visit to the Moi Referral & Teaching Hospital in Eldoret, Kenya.

Since 2006, pediatric specialists from the VU Medical Center in Amsterdam have been traveling regularly and voluntarily to the Moi Referral & Teaching Hospital in Eldoret, an hour's flight from Nairobi. Pediatricians from the VU Medical Center train doctors in Kenya in an effort to improve child health care there. The priority for the Dutch doctors is to improve pediatric knowledge in Kenya. The health center in Eldoret is a teaching hospital and all the knowledge will be passed along to doctors in training, making Doctor 2 Doctor a sustainable form of development aid. KLM, Kenya Airways and KLM Health Services support the program by providing travel facilities, expertise, and logistical assistance.

Lornah Kiplagat's function as ambassador is more than just a symbolic one. Ms. Kiplagat, who was born in Kenya and trains near Eldoret about six months of every year, will fulfill an important role for Doctor 2 Doctor. She will visit the Moi Hospital regularly to help motivate the Kenyan doctors in training and encourage sick children by visiting with them and providing them with sports and games. She will also invite the Dutch doctors visiting Kenya for longer periods to stay for a short time at her sports center so they can unwind from their heavy medical schedule.

"I'm very enthusiastic about this collective effort between KLM and the VU Medical Center, Doctor 2 Doctor," says Lornah Kiplagat. "And I'm glad I can make a contribution. The doctors are doing fantastic work in a place where it is badly needed. The Moi Referral Hospital can expect to see me there regularly."

"We're very pleased that Lornah Kiplagat has decided to join Doctor 2 Doctor," says KLM Health Services director Brinio Veldhuijzen van Zanten. "Lornah is a socially motivated athlete. The Lornah Kiplagat Foundation, which she set up, provides a variety of activities all designed to offer young Kenyans a better future through sports and education. It is an investment in the country of her birth. Her foundation fits seamlessly with our outlook and we plan to work with the foundation in the future. Lornah's Dutch nationality combined with her knowledge of Kenya - particularly the area around Eldoret -makes her the perfect ambassador for Doctor 2 Doctor. KLM Health Services is especially proud that we, with our expertise in healthy travel and work, can be involved in a program with which Lornah Kiplagat has decided to associate her name."

For more information:
KLM Media Relations, Bart Koster, +31 20-649 45 45.
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http://www.presslink.nl/klm/