Health facts sheet designed to aid in community health education

With most local villages without medical facilities, and absent of libraries or any sort of information technology – comprehensive, up to date, and timely health information is near impossible to receive. This can result in harmful lifestyle practices and a failure to access treatment, all of which increases the burden of disease unnecessarily encountered by such communities.

URF conducts periodic medical camps with a number of surrounding townships, which are at times attended by over one hundred patients in a day. This presents a prime opportunity to provide health education to attendees in addition to their families and communities where they live.

However due to funding constraints, staffing for these activities are limited, with there being on average 2-3 doctors/nurses assigned to each camp to treat and manage patients.

In responding to the above, URF has produced a series of health information fact sheets, focusing on key health and wellbeing issues affecting Uganda. Researched and created by volunteers Jess Santos and Jehan Loke, and translated by URF staff, the fact sheets provide culturally relevant and local information about a range of health issues including:

  • How to use effectively use mosquito nets to reduce the risk of Malaria
  • How to avoid pedestrian related road accidents
  • How to maintain a healthy diet using cost effective and locally available foods
  • How to identify and respond to problematic alcohol use

These fact sheets have been collated into a health education resource which will be freely available to patients and community members accessing future URF medical camps.