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If you are unfamiliar with Kia’s Green Light Project, it is wonderful example of a corporately-driven social responsible health program. It is a program that seeks to improve public health, education, and skills in developing countries. Since the inauguration of the Green Light Project in 2012, Kia has opened public facilities in nine countries – eight in Africa and one in Asia.

On November 8, 2019, Kia opened a new Green Light Health Care Center in the Fanteakwa District in the Republic of Ghana. The new center will offer medical services to 30,000 people in Fanteakwa, an agricultural community with poor infrastructure and living conditions. In particular, it will help address the lack of public healthcare facilities offering maternal care and treatment for children.

Located close to schools and residential areas, the center provides treatment for minor injuries and illnesses, maternal care and support, pediatric care, treatment for HIV and malaria, and education for family planning. In addition, a mobile clinic in the form of a renovated Kia truck will expand the reach of the center to around a dozen neighboring towns in the District. The Fanteakwa center will be operated by World Vision Ghana, a non-governmental humanitarian organization.  According to our contact at Williamsburg Kia (Williamsburg, VA), Kia has paid to construct the healthcare center and will fund the operation for five years. 

According to Kyehwan Roh, Team Leader of CSR Management Team at Kia Motors, “The ultimate objective of the Green Light Project is to go beyond infrastructural support, to create for the community a system of self-sufficient local healthcare,” said.

The key to the success of the Green Light Project in Africa is its integrated governance, including the participation of local government and civic involvement, and the eventual transfer of management to the local authority.

Ghana, located along the Gulf of Guinea and the Atlantic Ocean in West Africa, is beset by high infant and maternal mortality rates, as well as a series of other public health challenges. Fanteakwa suffers from particularly poor healthcare infrastructure, exacerbating these issues. Another national healthcare policy, the Expanded Program of Immunization is harmonized into the operation of the Green Light Health Care Center in Ghana. 

Through the Green Light Project, Kia Motors has built schools, healthcare centers and vocational training centers in Tanzania, Malawi, Mozambique, Ethiopia, Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda and Ghana since 2012. All 12 projects will be completed by 2023.