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LUCOF partnered with 3 health centers (both government and private ), private individuals and the local government in this program. Many of the local health centers have been overwhelmed due to Covid19. These health centers were already poorly facilitated before Covid19. The sorry state of rural health centers has caused untold suffering to the communities, especially for the children, elderly, HIV/Aids patients and pregnant women. LUCOF has stepped in by sending healthcare professionals to:
The project had impact on more than 27,000 people in Luwero and Nakaseke districts.
A case study of two LUCOF village health team professionals James Owinji and Sarah Babirye
It is mid-morning on a Thursday when James and Sarah are preparing to our LUCOF center at Kamwano village in central Uganda. The LUCOF Village Health Team (LVHT) members are in a hurry as they prepare to go out to do their work, mobilizing the community for the battle against COVID-19 their kits contain printed Information, Education and Communication (IEC) materials and other health responder’s equipment, but the most important item for today’s mission is the megaphone. Sarah checks the batteries, removes them, opens a new pack, and puts in fresh ones for a better charge this morning. She tests the microphone and the megaphone responds with a loud sound.
James slips on easy shoes, flings his kit bag over the shoulder, grabs his megaphone, and sets off together with Sarah, maneuvering through the coffee homesteads of Kamwano effortlessly. Reaching a small trading center at Kibanyi, Sarah calls out, “Fellow citizens…” and goes on to greet the people, telling them in the same breath that she wants to rally them to keep the deadly COVID-19 disease away from their lives and homes.
The megaphones may not sound so loud to the person standing next to the speaker, but their sound carries far. Sarah and James see the number of curious people grow. They come out to listen as she explains how COVID-19 is transmitted. They explain the importance of the face mask. The figures of speech they use in the local Luganda language tickle the children and their sharp shrieks of laughter ring out from several homesteads. Farther down on a curvy road, people have stopped to listen. James is discussing handwashing and something he said must have amused the women, as it is their turn to laugh this time. It is amazing the number of people who are listening.
COVID-19 sensitization project through home visits
After a number of sessions that cover the whole parish, James and Sarah embark on home visits. In the homestead of Wabitungulu, they meet with a widow in her sixties who lives with three of her eight children and five grandchildren. The widow is drying her cassava in the compound and she welcomes the two LUCOF team members who are well known to her.
After pleasantries are exchanged the team starts asking about the state of preparedness in the home. Are the masks clean? Do the children always wear them before stepping out of home? Do they remember social distancing? What about the last burial the widow attended – did she keep her mask on?
They visit two more homes as they do their checks on the residents. An hour later, the LUCOF head of healthcare department leads an open-air meeting where the parish leaders are holding a community dialogue, assessing the work of the LUCOF local taskforce. Thousands of homes were visited in 4 sub counties.
On the left, LUCOF head of logistics Charles Katumba handing sanitation items to a staff member of Zirobwe Health Center III
Uganda Registration: S.5914/11502
Nederland Registratie: Kvk-nummer 83487166
BTW-Identificatienummer: NL862892983BO1