These past few days have been especially focused on the
health clinic being constructed here in Kikandwa. Friday, we began to service
map the area. We walked all throughout the local trading center and the land
surrounding the health clinic in order to effectively “service map” the area. This
means taking note of the locations of other clinics, drug shops, churches, and
schools in order to analyze their strengths, weaknesses, services offered, and
sources of funding. A total of 5 drug shops, 1 clinic, 2 health centers, and 6
schools were mapped and analyzed by combining our entire week’s research.
This led into our main objective today, which was to look at
this research and discuss how to turn the clinic into a center of excellency.
To help this community, an change is needed. The difficult part is that it
needs to be the right change. It’s
easy to raise funds for a structure, but hard to provide a valuable service to
the community that fulfills a need and occupies an otherwise empty niche.
This past week we have found multiple education resources to
be available to primary school students. However, our interactions within the
community, as well as in the trading centers, have revealed that this learning
is not reinforced in the household. Moreover, the village health teams created
to educate the community often find themselves stressed for funds to provide
transportation – an extreme hindrance in a rural community.
This was just one of the numerous discussions that have
centered around the future of the health clinic. However, it seems we have come
close to a very realistic option that addresses this need and creates a center
of excellency within the clinic. The option is to provide educational outreach
programs through the clinic using Ugandan doctors (through our relationship
with the Mukono Diocese) as well as health professionals and University
students from the U.S. This will also enable the clinic to be a continual
learning experience for students in the future – something we have always
looked for the clinic to provide. However, our research is still ongoing, as
are conversations about the future of the clinic. In any case, we can be
certain that the Kikandwa Health Clinic will be a center of health education
excellency to a rural Ugandan community in great need.
Hey Drew, I love the blog! I am learning so much from your entries. I was just wondering where the Ugandan doctors are from and who pays their salaries. Are they trained/educated locally? It seems like such a daunting job, they must be living saints.
ReplyDeleteYou are the best! Thanks for the kind comment and for keeping up with the blog. Ugandan doctors are often educated for 5 years at the university level after completing secondary school (our high school semi-equivalent). After this, they can either continue working in government facilities, work in non govt facilities (ie the Church of Uganda has a few health facilities), or open their own private practice. Many are paid by the Ministry of Health in Uganda since the government facilities are supposed to allow for free health care. Others can be paid by other facilities not associated with the government that pay their salary by charging a fee to the patients. In most cases, doctors work both full time in these facilities as well as part time in their own privately run clinics.
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