An initiative started by rapper French Montana, in partnership with Global Citizen, in February of last year to bring health care to a rural medical clinic in Uganda can now count on another star philanthropist.
On Thursday, Rolling Stone reported that rapper Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs donated $200K to the Suubi Health Center in Budondo, which provides maternal care services to rural mothers in the region.
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According to the report, $100K of the donation came through Ciroc, a vodka company owned by the rapper. Combs matched that donation with $100K of his own money.
The money will go toward building a prenatal care clinic, birth house, and new ambulance, Rolling Stone reported.
“It’s important to give back. It’s important to be an agent of change,” Combs said in a video released on YouTube by the Mama Hope organization, a partner of Global Citizen.
Combs’ donation brings the total money raised for the Suubi Health Center to $400K.
In May, French Montana donated $100K to Mama Hope after visiting Uganda in February to film the music video for his hit song “Unforgettable.” He had been inspired to visit after seeing a video posted online of Uganda’s Triplets Ghetto Kids, a local dance troupe.
Montana’s generosity in turn convinced The Weeknd to match the $100K donation, which, according to Mama Hope, allowed the clinic to increase its serving capacity from 56,000 people to 260,000.
Access to health care for poor women in Uganda is severely lacking, especially in rural areas.
Fewer than half of Ugandan women made at least four visits — the minimum number recommended by the World Health Organization — to antenatal care centers, according to UNICEF. In some regions, midwives must handle an estimated eight to 10 births each day and patients must walk almost 20 miles to reach the nearest health center, Insider reports.
Read More: How a Simple Booklet Is Reducing Violence Against Schoolchildren in Uganda
The maternal mortality rate in Uganda, while lower than it used to be, is still 336 maternal deaths for every 100,000 births.
Global Citizen campaigns on the Global Goals for Sustainable Development, including goal number three: good health and well-being. This goal specifically calls on all countries to reduce their maternal mortality rates to below 70 per 100,000 births by 2030. You can join us and call on African leaders to prioritize maternal and child health here.
Combs, who has invested in youth on numerous occasions in the past, sees his donation as an opportunity to create a brighter for women and children not just in his own country, but around the world.
"I've always said my purpose is to inspire and empower the next generation to become great leaders — and to honor their hustle along the way,” he told the Rolling Stone.
When it comes to his investment in maternal health care, Diddy’s showing that he’s still “All About the Benjamins.”