Samsung Partners with Blue Ribbon Initiative for Father’s Day Wellness Run in Nairobi

NAIROBI, Kenya, Jun 23 — Samsung has partnered with the Blue Ribbon Initiative as the official technology and wellness sponsor for the Father’s Day Wellness Run held at the Waterfront in Karen on June 21, 2026, in a bid to promote men’s health awareness and early prostate cancer screening.

The event brought together families, fitness enthusiasts and medical professionals, with participants utilizing the Samsung Galaxy Watch ecosystem to monitor health metrics such as pace, distance and real-time biometrics during the run.

Speaking during the event, Andrew Keeplah, Founder and Lead of Partnerships for the Blue Ribbon Initiative Kenya, emphasized the importance of changing attitudes around men’s health and encouraging regular medical checkups.

“We are not trying to scare people off cancer; we are trying to make it more common that Kenyan men need to check their health,” Keeplah said.

The initiative was founded in memory of Keeplah’s late father, who succumbed to prostate cancer, and has since evolved into a growing community movement focused on promoting healthy lifestyles and breaking stigma surrounding men’s health conversations.

Although the Blue Ribbon Initiative was officially established in 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic delayed physical events, with the wellness runs officially launching in June 2024.

Now in its third active year, the annual run has grown significantly from just 80 participants during its inaugural edition to more than 700 runners this year, including children and families.

Organizers and stakeholders at the event stressed that normalizing clinical checkups and overcoming hesitation among men to seek medical attention remains key to reducing deaths linked to late-stage cancer diagnoses.

Samsung’s wearable technology played a central role during the event, highlighting how digital health tools can support preventive healthcare and fitness monitoring.

Capital FM Account Manager Collins Maloba said partnerships between corporates, media and community organizations were critical in amplifying such health campaigns.

“This is a Blue Ribbon event, it’s a platform where dads and kids and even ladies show up to celebrate Father’s Day, and we are here under the invitation of Samsung as a tech support partner to just show up and give the amplification the event deserves,” Maloba said.

Participants also shared personal testimonies about the importance of early testing and routine health screening.

Surinder, a 76-year-old participant who has supported the run since its inception, urged men to prioritize their wellbeing.

“Prostate cancer is such an important thing for men. Men don’t realize what this means to them if they don’t take care of themselves,” he said.

Another participant, Sandra, whose father survived prostate cancer, encouraged men to seek medical attention early.

“My father is a survivor of prostate cancer and I’m here to support all men to go get tested early because, in the case of my father, he was very, very lucky that he got tested early,” she said.

The event concluded with a strong call for fathers and men to embrace self-care and regular health checkups as part of building healthier families and communities.

“You cannot pour from an empty cup, so you need to first take care of yourself, you need to love yourself, you need to celebrate yourself,” Keeplah said.