Help Ugandans Obtain Vital Health Services

In Uganda, expectant moms receive the essentials they need for safe delivery in free Mama Kits. However, at the Aleptong Health Centre IV in Northern Uganda some expectant moms have been asked to pay bribes for life saving supplies, placing them just out of reach for the poorest women,

The Anti-Corruption Coalition Uganda (ACCU) have been hard at work this summer using your donations to amplify the voices of expectant mothers and other marginalized citizens in Northern Uganda. ACCU convened community meetings to discuss the sale of Mama Kits, and other acts of corruption and extortion in health service delivery and find solutions to the community’s most pressing health service issues. At one such gathering, community members shared stories of health workers requiring HIV/AIDS patients to work in their personal gardens before providing them with their medication. Other citizens pointed to the lack of safe and clean water, and a disconnected water tank at Apala Health Centre III, a health center serving a population of 42,407.

Volunteer community monitors verified these issues and presented them to local duty bearers at a meeting organized by ACCU to demand change and secure commitments for change. During the dialogue, volunteer community monitors and those in charge of health centres were able to share the actual health service delivery situation in their duty stations and work together to find solutions.

As a result of ACCU and the volunteers’ work, the non-functional water tank at Apala health centre III has been re- connected and through rain water harvesting, the health centre now has access to safe and clean water.

In the same dialogue, The District Police Commander of Aleptong district pledged to follow-up on HIV/AIDS patient harassment and ensure that HIV/AIDS patients will no extorted for their labor when they seek life-saving medication. Thanks to brave citizens reporting harassment and volunteer monitors demanding change, the mistreatment of patients and HIV/AIDS patients at Aleptong Health Centre IV has stopped.

The sale of Mama Kits at Aleptong Health IV has also ceased, allowing expectant mothers’ to focus on a safe delivery without worrying about the price of the bribe. The positive changes have been attributed to the continuous monitoring of health service delivery by the community monitors hence increasing access to quality services by the local citizens.

These changes would not have been possible without your generous support to the Citizen Action Platform. These examples also show how vital it is to keep up the pressure on governments to provide quality health services and give citizens an avenue to blow the whistle on corrupt, discriminatory behaviour in health services in Uganda. Please take a moment and share the news of the good work of ACCU and its partners. With your support we can make sure bribes are not a worry in an expectant mother’s mind as she prepares for a new baby.