By Our Reporter
On Thursday, MTN joined the rest of the world to celebrate World Health Day, as a reaffirmation of its commitment to support the health and well-being of communities in Uganda. World Health Day is a global health awareness day celebrated every year on 7 April, which also doubles as the anniversary of the founding of the World Health Organisation.
Over the last 5 years, MTN has invested UGX5.4billion in interventions aimed at improving the health sector in Uganda. The interventions largely focused on improving maternal health care, healthcare services for Persons with Disabilities, refugees, tackling mental health illness and easing accessibility to quality health care services in rural areas.
Some of these initiatives have included the renovation and furnishing of maternity wards in 8 health facilities such as Aroi HC III Arua, Cwero HC III Gulu, Amach HC IV Lira, Naboa HC III Budaka, Kigorobya HC III, Kijura HC III and Kamukira HC IV Kabale.
In the past three years, MTN equipped and refurbished 24 health facilities including health centre III and IVs across the country.
In an effort to support the large refugee settlements in Uganda, MTN in 2017 fulfilled UGX 1 billion pledge to the Office of the Prime Minister which saw the upgrade of 10 refugee serving hospitals in Uganda.
More recently, MTN supported Butabika Hospital through the construction of sanitary facilities in an effort to support delivery of health services at the mental health institution.
It is worth noting that MTN believes strongly in the power of collaboration to create meaningful impact; which is why over the years, the telecom has worked with the Ministry of Health, Red Cross, UNHCR, USAID and UNFPA to realise the success of its interventions.
Bryan Mbasa, the senior manager MTN Foundation said health of the people in the communities is something close to the heart of MTN’s business.
“Health is one of the key pillars of Corporate Social Investment for the MTN Foundation because at MTN, we believe that we are only as good as the communities we serve,” he noted.
2022 Planned projects
Mbasa also reaffirmed MTN’s commitment to investing in Uganda’s health sector with the aim of achieving SDG 3 which focuses on health and well-being noting that the MTN Foundation intends to commission even more impactful projects this year.
Key among the interventions MTN is undertaking this year, is the upgrade of Ibakwe health Centre II in Parolinya refugee settlement located in Moyo district and Bwizi health centre III in Western Uganda to mention but a few.