Suubi Trust

International Medical Foundation, IMF, has recently been successful in its application for funding from the Uganda AIDS Commission through the Civil Society Fund.

IMF has been granted just over £100,000 for the next two years.

This funding will be used to extend the scope and coverage of education, prevention and treatment services to People Living with HIV-AIDS in the slums of Makindye division in Kampala and to prevent further spread of HIV-AIDS in the community.

This photo shows the shanty dwellings in Namuwongo just outside the hospital walls.

The slum areas throughout Kampala district are at high risk for the spread of HIV-AIDS. Although poverty in Uganda has a “rural face”, the urban poor in Kampala face huge disadvantages through living in poor, shanty housing conditions with lack of access to basic services. Approximately 9% of the population in Kampala are HIV positive, as compared to the national average in Uganda of 6.7%. Makindye division has the largest population of the five Kampala districts. Slum dwellers comprise about 60% of the population in Makindye division. The Makindye sub-division five year strategic plan estimates that 13% of these people are HIV positive; International Hospital Kampala recently invited people in Namuwongo for free testing and 20% of those who presented for testing were HIV positive.

There are few services available to address this problem. While there are services throughout the district, few operate outreach services in these slums.

Our ‘Touch Namuwongo‘ programme aims to change this and to make a difference for people living with HIV-AIDS in this deprived area.