Dr. Ian Clarke has written a short paper outlining some of his thoughts on how we can work together to help develop Healthcare in Uganda. Excerpts follow…
Health is a complex issue and there is no simple solution to taking care of the health needs of any nation. Uganda has a population approaching 30,000,000, with over 50% of people below the age of fifteen. The prevalent diseases are not the degenerative diseases, which mainly affect developed countries, but infectious diseases and diseases such as cancer which now affect people at a younger age because of the influence of HIV on other disease patterns. This is not to say that Ugandans do not suffer from ‘western’ conditions such as heart disease, strokes and arthritis, but relatively fewer of the population grow old enough to be at risk.
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The emphasis of IMF working through IMG is not only to provide the primary healthcare in the form of preventive healthcare, such as immunisations and the distribution of mosquito nets, but to have the necessary referral facility, such as a laboratory and theatre facilities. Another goal is to ensure that standards are implemented and upheld. This requires competent well trained personnel and appropriate well maintained equipment. It is for this reason that IMG is involved in medical and nurse training, including quality assurance and medical management and building the capacity to fill the gaps at both secondary and tertiary levels.
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Many Ugandan medical professionals have either left the country, or will leave, because of lack of adequate facilities for training and gaining experience. This brain drain has a serious impact on the ratio of doctors to the population, but one cannot blame them if they cannot obtain sufficient experience within Uganda. Undertaking such high level procedures, such as heart surgery within Uganda brings back hope to many medical professionals that there will be more medical development in the future.
IMF and IMG are about facilitation – facilitating the individual patient to access appropriate treatment, facilitating the medical professional to provide that treatment at correct standards and facilitating the building of capacity and closing the gaps within the healthcare profession in Uganda.
You can read the full paper by clicking here…
