Care for All: Build a Mobile Clinic for Rural Gulu

Every mother wants healthy children.

And in the early days of a child’s life, parents and doctors understandably focus on how the baby’s physical development—is she gaining weight? Is he developing reflexes? Are they hitting all of the milestones of a healthy and thriving child?

Lanyero smiles as she watches her 8 months old baby, Opio play with a toy. He has been very ill, but the treatment that she has received from the clinic is making him better each day. The doctor has just checked on him and is happy with the progress of recovery. And Lanyero is happy with the progress too. The other mother smiles with her.

The mothers are happy with the service provided for their children. Ensuring the well being of mothers and children during and after illness is a priority for Karin Community Initiatives Uganda (KICU).

As we sit for our monthly management meetings our focus is on the children like Opio. Our overall goals are marched with the Millennium Development Goals and determining what we must do in the next months as the MDG plans end this year. In 2000, an estimated 9.9 million children around the world died before age 5. This number dropped to 6.3 million in 2013. The 3.6 million lives that have been saved during this timeframe is far more than a statistic – it is a staggering and heartening reminder of the power we have to better the lives of children, families and communities throughout the world.

At the Karin clinics, even though our figures feel like a drop in the ocean, nevertheless we reached out to 12,900 children in the last year alone.

Whilst we have a lot to celebrate when we look at the progress made, we cannot  afford to be complacent- far too many of the vulnerable and hard to reach children are being left behind. We need to continue the job of ensuring every child can reach his or her potential and this year’s action is a fitting forum to further this work.

Our plan is to put more emphasis on health education and promotion intervention into program in innovative ways- figuring out what works in our local context and building an evidence base with our district t effectively support children and parents in the early years.

We think of mothers like Lanyero who want to keep her children safe.  Lanyero and so many mothers in the village of Agonga want to know how to keep their children healthy and free from danger.

We can only do this with your support.  By supporting our rural health centres and ensuring that its equipped and managed by well-trained medical professionals.

Today, we are asking for a few clicks of your mouse: take 5 minutes to share our GlobalGiving page with your contacts and tell them why you decided to donate to us and why they should do the same.

Please help us to save children, by becoming a regular donor of this critical work, or making another one off donation.  Thank you for your continued support.  It really makes a great difference!

Can you do more? Consider signing up for a monthly recurring donation today. Thank you for your support!

Links:

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Dear friends,

For the last four months, we have been sending babies away because we had no vaccines, it was a nationwide problem. A very painful experieince for all of us, but the district health office assured us that this situation will not go for long and we should encourage the mothers to keep checking at their nearest facilities and make sure that their children are immunised. However, we continue to vaccinate all the children under five years old for the others diseases.

When Acan Mary had her baby over the weekend, the immunisation department of the local hospital was closed. She therefore came to the Karin Medical Facility very frightened that her child did not get the first vaccines of BCG and OPV0 that a newly born should receive. There was little that the health workers could do, it was a nationwide problem, so they adviced her to take care of her child.

Moses Ogwang is our unit vaccinator,  his routine work in the immunization program involves providing  immunization services, Counseling/Health Education to parents/caretakers; Planning and conducting outreaches; Screening for immunization status, reducing missed opportunities; Forecasting, ordering and storing vaccines and other logistics; maintaining fridge temperature within the recommended ranges (2-8deg centigrade); Defrosting fridge and filling vaccine control book daily.  Moses enjoys his job and he always advices the clients about the importance of immunization. He was very disturbed by the lack of vaccines for babies, because he knows the implications.

Many achievements have been made in this program we are now able to secure ADs syringes and 100needles to improve on injection safety and confidence of the community in the services. Uganda was declared  polio-free in 2006 and Measles  mortality and morbidity reduced >90% and we are almost attaining Maternal neonatal tetanus elimination

The work that we do would not continue without the support from you. We would like to thank you all for the  support that have made all of our work possible. Northern Uganda is still one of the most challenging places in the world for children under five years old, and we need you to recruit more support for our cause. When potential supporters hear us talking about why they should make a donation today, they listen. But when your friends and family hear you talk about our work as someone who is already a supporter and knows that we are making a difference, they’ll act.

Today, we are asking for a few clicks of your mouse: take 5 minutes to share our GlobalGiving page with your contacts and tell them why you decided to donate to us and why they should do the same.

Can you do more? Consider signing up for a monthly recurring donation today. Thank you for your support!

Links:

• website