Over 9,000 residents of Kalangala district have received free health services at a health camp organised by Kalangala District Local Government and the Uganda Health Marketing Group (UHMG).
The camp was officiated by the Minister of State for Health-Primary Health Care Hon Sarah Opendi who emphasises the need for community engagement as a way of improving service delivery in the health sector.
“Under the Health Sector Strategic Investment Plan (HSSIP), the Ministry of Health emphasises the need to promote primary health care interventions at community level. Communities should be empowered to be able to protect themselves against preventive disease. This camp is an opportunity for us to raise awareness among the community in addition to providing health services,” Hon. Opendi said.
“It is my plea that, UHGM service providers pay special attention to; maternal and child health interventions; malnutrition; malaria prevention; NCD screening; HIV counselling and testing; and promotion of good sanitation and hygiene practices.”
The Ministry of Health acknowledges the importance of partnerships as an important guiding principle of the NHP (National Health Policy). The camp was embraced as a commitment of UHMG as a partner to reach underserved communities with quality integrated health services. This is in line with Objective 2 of the National Development Plan which aims at promoting improvement of the health status of the population.
The camp is aimed at reaching both adults and children with a wide range of free quality integrated health services. According to the Managing Director UHMG Joyce Tamale the camp is aimed at breaking the geographical barriers that hinder access to timely and quality health services to the people of Kalangala.
Kalangala has one of the lowest health indicators characterised by high HIV infection rate at 30%, a high unmet family planning need and maternal and infant mortality rate. This situation is attributed to its geographical situation as a collection of four islands that can only be accessed by water transport. This makes access to the only 13 government health
Various health services were offered including Family planning, HIV counselling and testing, screening and treatment of sexually transmitted infections, malaria testing and treatment, Maternal and Child Health and Reproductive Health services. The health camp that is funded by USAID also attracted support from various Non-Governmental Organisations and private sector stakeholders who have contributed financial and material resources towards the successful delivery of quality health services.