Hope Revival Agency for Rural Development (HORARD)

Mission Statement HORARD MEDucate Mothers Deliver Safe and Infants Care (MoDeSIC) promoting and supporting young mothers to undergo antenatal and postnatal, provide nutritional foods & supplements, ambulance services for safe delivery transport and care that will reduce maternal child mortality in post conflict districts of Northern Uganda and fishing villages that is considered hard to reach areas. Infants, Orphans and Vulnerable Children (OVC), other marginalized/disadvantaged Young people, People Living with HIV/AIDS (PHAs) and rural community educated and empowered with skills and resources to lead healthy, self reliant lives and to become agents of change in their communities. Y... read more Mission Statement HORARD MEDucate Mothers Deliver Safe and Infants Care (MoDeSIC) promoting and supporting young mothers to undergo antenatal and postnatal, provide nutritional foods & supplements, ambulance services for safe delivery transport and care that will reduce maternal child mortality in post conflict districts of Northern Uganda and fishing villages that is considered hard to reach areas. Infants, Orphans and Vulnerable Children (OVC), other marginalized/disadvantaged Young people, People Living with HIV/AIDS (PHAs) and rural community educated and empowered with skills and resources to lead healthy, self reliant lives and to become agents of change in their communities. Young mothers empowered to have safe deliveries, support most at risk young mothers and infants/children. Background Overall, HIV/AIDS is still a major public health challenge in Uganda, 35 years since it was declared an epidemic of major proportion. Despite decades of activism, treatment, research and prevention Uganda still posts high levels of new infections and general AIDS mortality. An estimated 5.7 million Ugandans were HIV positive in 2008. On the other hand, the proportion of women infected is averagely higher than that of men while a growing number of new infections are in children and the population below 14 years of age. HIV/AIDS is complicated by poor maternal and child health indicators both of which increase susceptibility of mothers and infants to the epidemic. HORARD intends to implement maternal and child health activities targeting young mothers and HIV/AIDS in three Northern Uganda districts of (1) Apac district targeting the fishing communities of Maruzi Sub County and Chawente Sub County, (2) Amolatar district targeting the fishing communities of Namasale Sub County and Muntu Sub County and (3) Lira district targeting Ogur Sub County hosting Barlonyo LRA massacre IDP camp and Barr Sub County-one of the biggest IDP in Lira. Through this program HORARD hopes to significantly control the epidemic and to mitigate the related impact on young mothers, maternal and child health. The program will address maternal & child/infant care, HIV prevention among young women, and problem of poor access to Anti-Retroviral Therapy (ART) which is complicated by underlying factors in distribution, adherence and administration. The gaps in public education about patient access to treatments, rights of patients and matters of stigma will be addressed through this program. HORARD MEDucate project will be implemented through our established women and youth groups and in collaboration with local user groups, community representatives and local authorities to intervene in identified gaps. It is anticipated that the project will eliminate transmission and rigidities in local level value and distribution chains in order to easily access patients to HIV/AIDS care and treatment as well as promote maternal and child healthcare especially as linked to HIV/AIDS. Project Overview Northern Uganda is coming out of a long civil war caused by Joseph Kony's Lord's Resistance Army (LRA). Many people mainly from Acholi and Lango sub- regions were displaced and confined in Internally Displaced Peoples' (IDPs) camps. However since 2006, the entire region has experienced relative peace to date and the people have moved back to their homes albeit with challenges. As a result, much attention has been given to the region to enable it to recover from effects of the war. To date Northern Uganda is exposed to many public health challenges associated with the post war situation including HIV/AIDS & other STIs; Malaria; Malnutrition; Tetanus; Diphtheria; Nodding disease Syndrome etc. According to the AIDS Control Program of the Ministry of Health, Northern Uganda has an HIV prevalence rate of over 11.9% which is the highest in Uganda (ACP-HIV serosurveilence 2002). Northern Uganda also leads in maternal and child mortality - a project HORARD MEDucate strives to mitigate) as well as high poverty levels. Project Goal The goal of this project is to advocate for maternal and child health services for young mothers, HIV prevention and support the local level health system to improve child delivery and management of HIV/AIDS treatment. Objectives Prevention of new HIV infections and promotion of PMTCT To promote safe child delivery and manage complicated deliveries among young mothers To facilitate efficient and effective access to ARVs To promote child health services at the local health centers Promote children/infants nutritional support for healthy living To provide private ambulance services for each district To strengthen HORARD management structure Description of the project: The project will identify and support women who are at risk of unsafe and complicated deliveries. The project will also track infants and children at great risk of poor access to health services and malnutrition in identified sub counties in Lira, Apac and Amolatar districts in Northern Uganda. The project will provide massive engagements with women and young mothers and the homes based care groups and remain vibrant in handling activities of the project. The project will collaborate with the Government Health Systems and the NGO community level health infrastructure. The project targets especially the first time mothers who are extremely vulnerable. Teenage mothers usually fail to attend antenatal care which complicates their deliveries and postnatal circumstances. The project will undertake surveillance of the at risk mothers throughout the target areas and have them supported through the official government health services. The at-risk mothers and children include those that have HIV, those who are at risk of difficult deliveries and those who are compromised by poor nutrition. The project will prevent the complications from happening in the first place but in the event of such cases the project will ensure the victims and their infants are supported through the government health facilities. Problem statement The following problems in the local public health system exacerbate the situation of mothers and children in Northern Uganda. This project will address some of them: i. Limited hospital beds. ii. Unmotivated and overworked skeleton health personnel. iii. Poor coordination of health services. iv. Poor nutrition for new born babies of from disadvantaged families. v. Poor access to nearest health facility. vi. Poor health seeking behavior. vii. Lack of information about available health services and health outcomes. viii. Limited knowledge about patient rights. ix. High numbers of AIDS related deaths. x. Increasing population of orphaned and vulnerable children. xi. Increasing population of victims of gender violence and other abuses. xii. High levels of mother to child transmission. xiii. Stigma surrounding HIV/AIDS and lack of psycho-social support for victims. xiv. Lack of ambulance services for quick delivery of expectant young mothers in all districts. The project expects to reduce the maternal child mortality by at least 60% and improve healthy living by 70% in the target districts.