I’m sure that when you think of health in Africa, most times, you will think Diarrhoea, Malaria, HIV/AIDS or TB.
However this is just a part of the whole picture, yes a very important part, but there is more.
Uganda’s disease patterns progressively show an increase in diabetes, hypertension or sometimes heart disease that can be preventable. Cancer cases have also increased leading to premature death, especially among women. These diseases, once thought to be just in the West, are becoming matters of concern amongst healthcare professionals working in Sub Saharan Africa.
About one year ago we established a Well Clinic to offer health screening services at International Hospital Kampala. Recently we expanded this to include similar services for our community clients. Our latest initiative is to provide these services to Corporates in the form of Employee Health Days and on Friday we offered such a day to our own employees at IMG.
Through the Well Clinic, IHK has conducted Cancer Awareness campaigns, screenings such as PAP smears and educated individuals to carry out self-examination (breast and testes) that hopefully will mean that any abnormalities will be found early. Clients are counselled about aspects of lifestyle that may affect their health: being too heavy, eating the wrong foods, drinking too much alcohol and of course all matters related to Sexual Reproductive Health.
