Rural Uganda Gets a Health Worker Boost

September 21, 2017The sight of serene hills stretching into the horizon calmed my nerves as we snaked our way through steep and narrow dirt roads deep in Buhweju district, in South Western Uganda, 319 kilometers from the capital, Kampala.  Suddenly, it dawned on me why this district is considered “hard to reach” as I imagined what it would be like to traverse the same ground during a rainstorm or at night.It ’s here that I meet Janet Alupo, 20, an operating theatre assistant at Nsika Health Center IV who plans to take this same journey—plus an additional 332 kilometers—every three months to visit her family in Kobwin, a small village in the far eastern district of Ngora. Janet is one of 33 health workers recently recruited to serve and improve health care delivery in Buhweju, which has a population of 137,000. For a long time, the only operating theatre serving the whole district had been nonfunctional, as there was no one to run it.Although Janet has to brave the long distance to her workplace, she is honored and excited to offer surgical services to the community. For a long time, the only operating theatre serving the whole district had been nonfunctional, as there was no one to run it —no theatre assistants, anesthetic officers, or doctors. Janet started just two months ago. “I have already overseen five caesarians and managed over 60 cases through outreach services in the community,” she says with satisfaction. She counts herself lucky to have a job so...
Source: IntraHealth International - Category: International Medicine & Public Health Authors: Source Type: news