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By Sarah Zawedde
Mityana
RESIDENTS of Magongolo village in Kataka l Parish in the central division of Mityana District have commended AMREF health project for enhancing good health after helping them access drugs and related services.
Similarly, health practitioners and district leaders have thanked AMREF for helping them improve the health sectors including hitting the required immunization targets.
Nnalongo Florence Nakiwala, a resident in Magongolo as well a VHT and part of project implementors in the area said it has helped them a lot to improve service delivery and boosted mobilization to communities.
Nakiwala said, that they can now get medicine, immunization and gadgets like mosquito nets to beat off malaria from around their localities courtesy of AMREF. Someone could fall sick and fails to reach the health facility because of the distance and doesn’t have transport. Now it’s so different that services are brought near to them at once in a month.
The residents here who included ohn Mabirizi the chairperson Magongolo Village said they have had a good time with the enhanced heath facilities and prayed the project gets extended.
This was during the special four-day tour of Journalists trying to assess the Saving Live Livelihood (SLL ) project by AMREF Africa Center, Master Card Foundation, Africa CDC and MOH Uganda last week.
The project promotes health facilities to Ugandans especially those up country and in areas deemed hard to reach.
Pastor Jackson Lule the LCI chairman of Nkonya village near the shores of lake Wamala in Mityana Division also a beneficiary from the project thanked AMREF said, the project has helped them because they no longer walk long distances seeking for health services. Pastor Lule was amongst the few male beneficiaries, who took Hepatitis B and Tetanus Injections simultaneously was so grateful that he had received services nearer to his home area. He again requested the project to extent services to the male check up Prostate cancer which is a silent Killer disease.
” Before this even getting good free mosquito nets was hard. We had to travel distances to get drugs and some of us live in the islands so boat transport is expensive and then you add on land travels by bodaboda to distant health centers” said Pastor Lule
He said the areas are infested with too much problem of malaria given the presence of the waters of lake Wamala.
Meanwhile Sr. Ann Mbabazi, a midwife at Mityana General Hospital who also implements the SLL project by AMREF in Magongolo said that they have tried try to integrate the outreaches that were facilitated by AMREF into their routine immunization plans for continuous sustainability beyond the project closure.
She said the project has added facilitation to VHTs and boosted mobilization to communities
At Malangala Health Centre III at Bwesige village, Kiwawu Parish in Malangala subcounty in Mityana district, the EPI focal persons in charge of immunization, Fatuma Namusoke, and the Nurse, Rebecca Nabatanzi told media and Officials that the project has helped them a lot in changing lives on top of hitting their immunization targets.
” The district has now transformed from the immunization red lines to green lines on the immunization targets” said Nabatanzi.
They can reach out schools especially government owned even hard to reach places where that are far and mountain areas
Namusoke said other challenges were related to unwanted pregnancies by the unmarried and minors because of poverty and misbehaviours from the fishermen.
But we keep on counselling and giving them more attention.
“As long as is a teenager requesting for a condom or any other family planning method i don’t need to ask much because in understand she is already in practice” Nurse Namusoke said
During these interactions, even the Assistant district health officer, Mr. Muwanga Joseph, commended the project for making their work much easier.
Mr. Muwanga observed that the population is developing at a high speed but their medical quota has remained increased many years.
He added , they receive patients from within the area and neighbouring areas of Mpigi , Kasanda, Gombe and others.
Its now 13 years we still receive the same planned health services as Mityana district from the government. We lack staff the number is over whelmed by the patients
Enzaru Betty the in charge of maternal and child health said though diseases rating depends on the season, but malaria is ranked the first in the area. Although. have tried to give out mosquito nets but some have turned them into bridal dresses, using them in nursery beds. Others enter nets at a late hour after being bitten by the female anopheles mosquito. We have advised them to slash around their homes, keep away stagnant water, close windows earlier
Nalugoloobi Betty, a nursing assistant at in a Katiko Health Center II.aid the project has helped them a lot to improve service delivery.
She however, said they are at times overwhelmed by the high populations in communities which may lead to stock outs.at the health centre
Mr Mugambwa David and Ms Nakasagga Brenda who benefits from Katiko Health Center II in Naama Ward, Busimbi division Mityana thanked AMREF saying the project has helped them because they no longer walk long distances seek health services.
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