My final week in Uganda

Hello everyone!

My last week with Omni Med was full and rewarding.  On Tuesday, we went into the field to accompany VHTs on home visits and learn more about the challenges that the families they work with are faced with, especially when it comes to sanitation and hygiene. Many families cannot afford to construct a pit latrine (approximately $400) even though it is one of the best prevention tools against diarrheal diseases. VHTs take a harm reduction approach for these families and encourage them to wash their hands with soap and water and use proper cleaning and food preparation techniques to minimize the spread of disease.

VHT talking with a community member about the importance of sanitation and hygiene.

On Wednesday, I shadowed another VHT who is assigned to work at the health center that serves Kisoga. Rosette assists the health center staff with organizing and packaging medicines, giving health talks to waiting patients, assisting other VHTs who come to the clinic to volunteer, and numerous other tasks. Her work is vital, as this health center in understaffed for the number of patients who arrive each day. On the day we were there for instance, the psychiatric nurse was also responsible for running the pharmacy and reception desk.

Adult male circumcision is a very common procedure at Kojja as it has been shown to be effective in the prevention of HIV

Main building of the health center

Labor and delivery room- only two beds

We also spent one day observing the construction of a safe cook stove. In partnership with the Cookstove Project, a number of Omni Med VHTs have been trained to lead cook stove construction for families who need them. Cook stoves burn less fuel which is better for the environment and more affordable for families and they also create less smoke which can decrease the prevalence of pneumonia in children and adults. The materials can be gathered for free from the community-mud from ant hills and banana leaves-so it is obtainable for most families. It takes a lot of work though and it was amazing to watch these older female VHTS cut into think banana stems and mold thick mud into a sturdy and functional stove. 

I left Kisoga on Friday and went into Kampala where I spent the day with Living Goods. Living Goods also supports and trains VHTs  but their model is quite different from Omni Med's. As an added incentive, VHTs purchase medicines and other supplies as wholesale from Living Goods and sell to the community for a small fee. This way, VHTs  can make a small profit and have the medicines they need to treat children for malaria, diarrhea and pneumonia. Families can  also purchase labor and delivery kits, fortified cereal, solar lamps, and other products they need at a fraction of the cost from a pharmacy or local shop. I spent the afternoon with a VHT in the field and observed her care of two pregnant moms. She showed me the prompts she uses to review good nutrition and health pregnancy activities as well as the data collection tool she has on her phone to enter in the information from her visits. 

Friday night I had dinner with the folks from LifeNet International. Working in Burundi, DRC and Uganda, LifeNet provides training, coaching and technical assistance to health clinics to assist them in improving their clinical and administrative practices. They design a curriculum that fits the specific needs of each center and works with them over a several year period to strengthen everything from accounting practices to hygiene protocols. I really enjoyed learning more about this work from Josh, LifeNet's Country Director for Uganda and his wife Nadine, over a delicious chicken curry at a rooftop restaurant overlooking busy Kampala. A far cry from rural Kisoga!

I said goodbye to Uganda on Saturday and flew into Kigali to begin the next leg of my journey. I'll share more soon about the wonderful experience I have been having in beautiful Rwanda!