Large-scale farming and food company, Amatheon-Agri Uganda, is joining hands with the Anaka Referral Hospital to provide medical services to 14 villages in Nwoya District, through a new Public Private Partnership that was launched in Nyamukino yesterday.
During quarterly health outreach days, a mobile unit comprised of medical professionals, equipment and drugs will bedispatched to communities neighboring AmatheonAgri’s farm, to cover a range of health services and topics including HIV/AIDS, Sexual Transmitted Infections, Hepatitis B and Malaria, among others.
“AmatheonAgri and Anaka Hospital share the vision to improve health care services within rural and remote communities in Nwoya,” says AmatheonAgri Uganda Managing Director, Herwig Tilly. “Over 90% of our workforce is employed from this district, so we have a vested interest to support their health and wellbeing.”
This new partnership builds on the community outreachdays that were conducted in 2014 and 2015 by AmatheonAgri Uganda and the Straight Talk Foundation – reaching more than 600 people.
District Health Officer, Janet Ooola, says that many of the people who cannot access medical services are those living with HIV. “This partnership will allow us to reach individuals with this sickness and offer them medical services as best we can, so we are grateful for the partnership with AmatheonAgri and are looking forward to continue working closely with them for the good of the community,” she says.
Resident District Commissioner, Akello Beatrice Akori,supports the company’s direct and indirect benefits for the district. “We encourage investors to follow AmatheonAgri’s holistic investment practices,” she says. “Alongside employment creation, theyare a leading example of generatingpositive impact, creating access roads, providing training, market access and facilitating medical services for the community.”
AmatheonAgri’s business model is founded on inclusive growth for the company and its surrounding community – socially, economically and environmentally. ItsOutgrowerProgrammeprovides smallholder farmers with free training on conservation farming and business education, while simultaneously providing market access through grain purchases at rural depots. Currently, more than 1,800 farmers are benefitting from the Programme, which injected over US$500,000 into the local economy last year.
Moreover, AmatheonAgri has rehabilitated 34 kilometers of public and private roads in sub-counties of Purongo, Lungulu and Got Apwoyo, which benefit not only the company’s operations but also increase community access to social services and markets.
“Nwoya has the potential to become the beating heart of Uganda’s agriculture industry, and we are proud to support the development of this hub through continuous stakeholder collaboration, economic participation of rural communities and along-term commitment to the Republic of Uganda,” says Tilly.
The AmatheonAgri Group comprises sustainable farming, trading and food processing operations in Sub-Saharan Africa. The Berlin-based company currently operates in Zambia, Uganda and Zimbabwe, with expansion plans to become one of the leading pan-African players in the agri and food industries. Its holistic business approach is one of its main competitive advantages in Africa.
