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The first time I traveled to Uganda, I had the opportunity to shadow in the equivalent of their national emergency room for children. A father had traveled from far away with his young daughter. She had severe malaria. A blood test confirmed this. It also confirmed that her hemoglobin was so low that the physicians suspected she would die without a blood transfusion. The hospital had no blood to give her. The family could try to transport her to another hospital in Kampala for blood. The father cried. He couldn’t pay for transport to another hospital. He had just paid to have her transferred to this one.
15 years and thousands of patients later, this encounter still stands out as one of my most memorable. Uganda is not so different, and it’s not so far away, but how is it possible that in the 21st century children are still dying from things we believe to be simple or take for granted. A blood transfusion. A ride 10 miles away.
Northern Uganda is known to have fewer economic resources. Our efforts have previously focused on delivering almost 40,000 malaria mosquito nets to school age children in this rural region. Now we want to do more. We want to expand the existing health center so that it is more able to provide for children and their families.
Holy Family Katulikire Health Centre is a private not for profit health institution located in Katulikire parish, Kiryandongo District.
The Health Centre was founded by Rev. Fr. Gino Stocchiern assisted by Emma a nurse, in 1987 as a simple medical facility to administer treatment to parish staff, catechumens, and people in the neighborhood. However, due to the influx of patients, particularly internally displaced persons as a result of the Lord’s Resistance Army rebellion (LRA) in Northern Uganda, the dispensary was raised to a Health Centre III status. The Health centre offers curative, preventive, and rehabilitative health care services, such as out-patient treatment, laboratory services, voluntary counseling and testing, antenatal and post anatal care, immunization and community outreach programs. The catchment population is approximately 26,965 people. It is our desire to upgrade this health center from a Health Center III to a Health Center IV so that we can be in position to offer more and improved services to the people. The disease burden in the population is significant. A big percentage of the population in Katulikire Parish has no access to affordable quality medical facilities and services. The situation is even worse with the rampant diseases like malaria, dysentery, typhoid, and pneumonia. The current health center offers inpatient services without electricity or indoor plumbing. As it currently stands, patients often have to be turned away because the clinic cannot adequately serve their needs. Transportation to the nearest public hospital can be cost prohibitive and due to limited funding, and even if patients do arrive the closest public hospital may not have the necessary staff or services. This situation occurred during my first stay and observation in Kampala. Private clinics are similarly far away and often too expensive for the patients. Holy Family is a nonprofit offering care at a lower cost.
We intend to begin this process by constructing a standard Out Patient Department (OPD) as per the recommendation of the Ministry of Health.
We anticipate that we can achieve this goal, but only with your help.
Every dollar that you give goes directly to the health center.
Thank you for your time and consideration.
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