After one year of a very beneficial cooperative agreement (CPA) that saw Baylor support Namayingo and Kamuli to strengthen health systems, the Baylor UNICEF PCA has come to an end.
In Namayingo alone Baylor helped to increase enrollment of the Health workforce from less than 50% to 75%. This statistic will help to greatly increase health worker patient ratio and improve service delivery, especially in the in the lower health units in Namyingo. In Kamuli the enrollment of the District Health teams increased from 75% to 100% through Baylor’s support to the district service commission.
Vice Chairman LC V Namayingo Hajj Twaha Kawuta addresses a close out work-shop . as a health worker from Namayingo listens in.
Vice Chairman LC V Namayingo Hajj Twaha Kawuta – Namayingo District was appreciative to Baylor for helping to close system gaps. “Specifically, Baylor supported recruitment in Namayingo which has improved from 51.6 percent to over 72%. It should not go unmentioned that so many activities related to improved community awareness on disease prevention and health promotion were carried out” Said Twaha
Haj Twaha however said that the district continues to be challenged by floods because two thirds of the districts is covered by islands. This leaves the district with limited farming area causing an even bigger challenge of food shortages and as a result, many young people have turned to illicit ways to survive which has exposed them to many Sex related illnesses. Namayingo has one health center IV that is expected to perform 15 percent of C-section deliveries in the district.
At the close out it was revealed that the biggest cause of child morbidity and mortality in Namayingo is Malaria mainly facilitated by mosquitoes in water logged arears. “We have waged war on misuse of mosquito nets because we may not have another opportunity to have partner to provide this ” said Hon. Twaha . The other diseases under serious intervention include Pneumonia, Acute Diarrhea and UTI’S in that order.
As part of their DHSS mandate, Baylor among other things supported TB reviews, development of annual work plans to inform activity implementation. Additionally Baylor also supported partner coordination meetings and trained Health unit management committees that substantively act as a governance councils for the health facilities hence improving their capacity to provide over sight functions to the health facilities.
Baylor Interventions in areas like Banda Buhemba, Lolwe and Namayingo Town council increased awareness in regard to malaria prevention including GBV and teenage pregnancy which have consistently been a source of suffering in the district.
Baylor supported talk shows that mobilized and sensitized on the uptake of health services and also conducted dialogues on SRH/HIV for adolescents and RMNACH/PMTCT including GBV for the adults..
Kangaroo mother care initiation among the low birth weight babies in Namayingo did well at 100% in the last quarter under review (January March 2022)
Better still 99% of all women who came to health facilities in Namayingo were enrolled on ART as recommended. Namayingo district commended Baylor for supporting the district efforts through mentorships .
In Kamuli Baylor intervention strengthened Health systems especially in the areas of data collection, reporting and usage. The CAO Kamuli Mrs. Tappy Namulondo said that “Baylor is well known nationally in building capacity of health workers and therefore Kamuli must work hard to grow this capacity and skills acquired so far”
In the araes of data collection there still remains a challenge of providing complete and accurate data. This challenge is mainly caused by limited internet expensive internet data and a few HMIS tools not yet grasped by the officers carrying the exercise. This has affected timely delivery of data for decision making and there is critical need to close the gap.
The top diseases in Kamuli include Malaria, cough, cold no pneumonia.
The programme has built the capacity of the district to adopt and implement a one health-plan to facilitate political and strategic health leaders to manage all health issues .
Under Baylor stewardship, 94% of babies were successfully resuscitated, viral load suppression by way of providing sustained Paediatric ART fell short of the PEPFAR tset arget scoring of 95% and the district technical leadership has pledged to do more mentorship and accredit more sites to provide pediatric ART.
Baylor-Uganda signed a one-year cooperative agreement with UNICEF called “Strengthening technical and management capacity of District Local Governments for Reproductive, Maternal, New-born, Child, Adolescent Health (RMNCAH), WASH and education services to cover 10 districts in Western and East-Central zones of Uganda.”
The PCA was aimed at improving access and utilization of RMNCAH, education, and WASH services in 10 districts of Uganda as well as the reduction in the supply and demand bottlenecks in the health systems, in underserved populations in the 10 selected districts in the Western ((Kasese, Kamwenge, Kyegegwa, Kikuube, Mubende, Isingiro and Ntungamo) and East Central zones (Kamuli, Tororo, and Namayingo)
