Umoja International: Let's Educate and Celebrate!

It was an incredibly successful day at the Rwentutu Medical Clinic after holding our first “Community Health Day.” We invited members from the surrounding community to receive free services which included HIV testing and education, family planning, taking blood pressure, distributing water guard (water purification tablets) and education, and distribution of mosquito nets to pregnant and breastfeeding mothers.

After administering the community health survey and visiting 60 homes, we discovered the most predominant sickness was malaria. Many families were not using mosquito nets leaving them incredibly vulnerable to getting malaria. The purpose of our community survey was to not only find out the current condition of homes in the Rwentutu area, but to also educate families about necessary improvements that needed to be made for the health and safety of all household members.

Throughout our work in the community we continued to inform and create awareness about our first Community Health Day happening at the Rwentutu Medical Clinic. It was an incredible turn out, we served over 150 people with all services throughout the day and handed out 50 mosquito nets. As we continue to work towards a more developed and sustainable clinic our hope is that the people of Rwentutu and surrounding communities will become increasingly educated and aware on prevention and response to sickness while also building and maintaining healthy families. There is much work in education and outreach to be done, however we have seen the response of people who are eager to be educated and receive the necessary medical support, and thus we must respond to the

call.