(UDHA) Association de santé publique de Genève
Under five and expectant mothers Nutrition Project
The Globemed at Washington University Supports nutrition project to improve and promote proper nutrition amongst the children under five years and pregnant women in Bukooma sub county in Luuka district for a healthy and productive community using the CHW model to implement the following activities;
- Referral for prevention and care of malnourished children and pregnant mothers at UDHA Naigobya NGO Health unit.
- Community health workers support exclusive breast feeding for 0-6 month old babies and complementary feeding for children aged six months and above.
- Mothers are health educated on feeding practices for children community sensitization meetings and during home visits by community health workers every month.
- Support Home gardening at household level (caretakers should have home gardens or backyard gardens). Skills are given at household level and from this then they can decide whether to scale up to commercial level.
- Support household food security skills which affect household food consumption and balanced diet. With help of community model garden at Naigobya technical school.
- Food preparation demonstrations which focus on different foods in the community and how to prepare them and know which nutrients children get.
MAMA project
The project was started in August 2014 by UDHA together with the Swedish Organization for Global Health (S.O.G.H) with the objective of improving the life of mothers and their children during pregnancy and after birth, the project covers five villages of Maina sub-county including Maina, Mwezi, Kyete, Girigiri and Bulondo in Mayuge district.
The project also uses the CHW model to reach out to all pregnant mothers through a door to door sensitization and focuses on improving maternal and child health in all target communities by;
- Increasing the uptake of ANC, PNC and FP services at facility.
- Encouraging mothers to go for safe delivery at health centres.
- Increasing the uptake of immunization
- Decreasing on the rates of Mal-nutrition in babies around the community
The Maternal and child health rights Promotion project
The community dialogues are organized by the CHWs and facilitated by both CHWs and project staff with the purpose of creating awareness of the project and increasing the visibility of the trained CHWs in their communities
The program also uses the community platforms (Barazas) to Improve behavior changes at household and community level that promote maternal and child health rights in the fishing communities of Bukaboli, Jaguzi and Malongo sub counties in Mayuge District through the IDF funded project by;
- Project team together with VHTs will hold community platforms to share health problems and child rights and get immediate feedback from duty bearers and service providers at each island and Bwondha landing site in the project area and the proceedings of the community platforms are recorded on video camera to facilitate follow up on commitments made during the community platforms, duty bearers and key stake holders are always involved in the platforms to share the health problems and find relevant feed back to the issues arising.
Vitamin A and Albendazole distribution project:
This project is funded by Vitamin Angels organization based in California. They donate vitamin A and Albendazole supplements to grass root organizations in order for them to be distributed in hard to reach areas. This project covers Iganga, Mayuge, Luuka and Bugiri, It targets children 6 to 59 months. Its main objective is to distribute vitamin A supplements and Albendazole to children in hard to reach communities in Uganda. These supplements are distributed by trained community health workers in their respective communities and during HIV/AIDS outreaches in all the other projects in integrated outreaches.
Ultrasound Scan Study in Rural Uganda-Luuka District
Study Aim: The study tests the feasibility of using second and third trimester scanning to identify high risk pregnancies as a focus for maternal/ newborn death reduction.
UDHA’s effort focuses on creating and increasing awareness of the benefits of ultrasound services and making ultra sound available and accessible to all pregnant mothers in the study area (Bukooma sub-county). The study is implemented in the MANEST intervention area. It employs a Quasi Experimental design with one intervention and one comparison sub counties. The already existing MOH structures of Health facilities and VHT will be employed for data collection. Management of the study is led by the Association de santé publique de Genève (UDHA) and Luuka district Administration. Policy and technical advice is continually sought from key partners including the Ministry of Health, UNICEF, WHO, research institution. We will document the implementation process and disseminate findings locally, nationally and internationally for policy impact. The study lasts for 18months with funding from Grand challenges Canada under the government of Canada and supports bold ideas with big impact in Global Health.