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Home > Find a Project > Uganda > Health > Access to Basic Healthcare for Uganda's poorest

Access to Basic Healthcare for Uganda's poorest

Summary

VSO - In 2008 VSO health volunteers saved and improved lives, sharing skills with community practitioners, nurses and doctors in some of Uganda's most impoverished regions. Help us do more in 2009. progress reportread updates from the field


Received £1,641 from 48 donations from people around the world like:

Rachel
(Anon.)

More Information About this Project

Project Needs and Beneficiaries

VSO volunteers will directly address malnutrition in children, preventable diseases such as HIV & AIDS and TB as well as treatment of chronic illnesses, poor service, access and care. Poverty is an obstacle to progress and VSO's volunteers address this at grassroots, institutional and governmental levels in the most impoverished regions of Uganda. This project will particularly help vulnerable groups such as children, women and the elderly through counselling, treatment and medical training.

Activities

One example is at Bwindi Community Health Centre where malaria and HIV & AIDS are prevalent. Volunteer Dr Paul Williams will help Bwindi's 250 surrounding villages build their own sustainable care, treatment and counselling facilities.

Funding Information

This project has been retired and is no longer accepting donations.

Additional Documentation

This project has provided additional documentation in a PDF file (projdoc.pdf).

Resources

Why this Project is Important

Potential Long Term Impact

Because VSO's volunteers pass on skills that stay in the communities, hundreds of colleagues and students and thousands of patients benefit long-term. Vitally, local medical practitioners feel encouraged to remain in their countries.

Project Message

"The clinic that I joined has changed beyond recognition. Thirteen people have become forty Ugandans. In 2007 we tested more than 3000 people for HIV, including more than 900 pregnant women."
- Dr Paul Williams, VSO volunteer, Bwindi, Paul started his VSO placement in 2006.

Who is Running This Project

Contact

Emma Kendon,
Direct Marketing Fundraiser
VSO
317 Putney Bridge Road
London, SW15 2PN
United Kingdom
-4402087808200
Email:

Project Sponsor

VSO

Organisation

VSO
317 Putney Bridge Road
London, London SW15 2PN
United Kingdom
+44 (0) 20 8780 7500
http://www.vso.org.uk

Learn more about VSO and the project team.



Where this Project is Located

Country

This project is located in Uganda and can also be found under Health.

For more information about Uganda, read the Human Development Report on Uganda or the Wikipedia entry for Uganda.

When this Project was Updated

Last Updated

This project was last updated on July 23, 2010.

Date Added to GlobalGiving

This project was added to the GlobalGiving project catalog on August 22, 2008.

Latest Update from the Field

Update on progress in Bwindi

By Emma Kendon - Fundraiser, September 14, 2009 01:41 PM

ChildrenStaff at Byumba Community Health CentreChild on children

We have just received this update from Paul Williams, volunteering with VSO in Bwindi with his partner Vicky:

June has been an exciting month at Bwindi Community Hospital. Power has finally arrived, and although it will eventually be fuelled by a hydroelectric system, that project has yet to be completed so generators currently power the Hospital. We have 60 large batteries that are charged by the generators during the day and then power the Hospital at night. The arrival of power at Bwindi Community Hospital means that we will be able to keep newborns warm at night, our midwives will not have to deliver babies by the light of lanterns, and our doctors will not have to stitch up wounds using headlamps.

During May, Bwindi Community Hospital welcomed its' newest team member- a brand new Toyota Landcruiser ambulance for our HIV outreach team, modified to be able to navigate the rough local terrain. We can now take HIV testing and treatment services out into the villages of this remote area instead of waiting for people to walk for a day or more to get to Bwindi Community Hospital in order to receive care.

Bwindi Community Hospital will never forget that it came into existence because of the need to provide healthcare for the Batwa pygmies. In June we opened a satellite clinic, close to the Batwa settlement of Byumba, about 20 kilometres from Bwindi. If you think Bwindi is remote, then Byumba is extreme. The health centre has been opened in order to provide much needed services to the local population in this incredibly isolated area, including the Batwa community. Byumba Health Centre will focus on providing antenatal care, increasing access to family planning, and immunisations, as well as providing basic treatment. They even performed one delivery during the first month that they were open. Urgent or complex problems will be referred to us at the Hospital.

The Children’s ward is the busiest in the hospital. There are up to 90 admissions a month with conditions like pneumonia, burns and malnutrition. A large part of the work of the children’s ward is education and prevention. Mothers of malnourished children work in the demonstration garden and have cooking lessons. Family planning, immunisations and mosquito nets are offered to all families admitted to the ward.

You do not improve health by building a nice Hospital and waiting for sick patients to find you. Prevention and education are fundamental. The Hospital has a Community Health team who spend every day in the field giving education and treatment to thousands. They teach in every school - about water safety, sanitation and good nutrition, they sell mosquito nets at subsidised prices in churches and do special outreaches to Batwa pygmy settlements. This includes immunisation to ensure that we reach the very poorest children.

The last twelve months have been a time of expansion and delivery in Bwindi Community hospital. We published an ambitious strategic plan on our website in July 2008 and by the end of June 2009 had delivered 75% of it. The hospital has limited resources and is located in a remote part of Uganda where poverty abounds. Every single percent represents a huge amount of hard work from the team.

Pictures:

Read 2 more "Updates from the Field" | Comment on this update

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