Preventative community health outreach through health education and basic treatment

Nurse, Jane checking a patients eye

The quality of health influences the quality of life for any individual and subsequently impact development for a community. At URF, our health care intervention is focusing on prevention and less on treatment. We do this through community health talks in villages and local schools.

Our nurse with other staff and volunteers conduct rotate in villages teaching basic health tips. The first round of workshops for November has focused on personal and household hygiene and sanitation- washing hands, cleaning house and compound to remove stagnant water that usually becomes breeding ground for mosquitoes that transmit malaria, boiling water for drinking, washing hands after using latrines, food preservation, etc.

Health talk in a village

The nurse collaborates with trained Village Health Workers that were trained by URF. Each village has two VHWs who are the first responders when there is an emergence and also assist with basic health education and monitoring. They visit patients and call in to request medical transportation assistance in emergence cases when someone needs to get to a hospital but can’t afford. URF has a medical van for this service.

At the clinic, the nurse conducts basic health check ups and treatment. Major cases are referred to the hospitals in Masaka town, 40 kms away.

 

 

Nurse taking blood pressure at the URF clinic

 

Health talk in a village