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Twekembe Working together for a healthier Iganga | |
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Way to go, Nawansega village! Article by Kait Maloney, UVP Managing Director 
Last May, Nawansega B village completed Uganda Village Project's (UVP) three year Healthy Villages program. One component of Healthy Villages is family planning outreaches. As UVP was phasing out programs in Nawansega B, we held a meeting to discuss how women would continue to access family planning services after UVP finished work. During the course of the meeting, the majority expressed their desire to continue receiving family planning and came up with the idea of each contributing a small amount of money to enable them to access these services. The contribution would go towards transporting their Village Health Team to go to the government health center to requisition for the family planning supplies and also toward a nurse's transport to come out and distribute the methods as the health facility is far from their village.
A few weeks ago Maureen, UVP's Program Manager, visited Nawansega B to follow up on this initiative. She was welcomed by 50 women who had all gathered for their appointed date. One of them stood up and said "We are grateful to UVP for having introduced this program to our village and for teaching us about family planning because before we didn't have the correct information. Although you phased out this program, you have equipped us with enough knowledge about family planning methods so we don't fear family planning methods anymore and because of this we still wanted to continue accessing these services. That's why today we are still meeting and getting these methods."
This village is proof that when communities are empowered and equipped with information, they can develop sustainable solutions to access the health services they want.
Fistula updates  UVP is excited to extend our partnership with Fistula Foundation another year to implement fistula programming including outreaches, patient identification, repair surgery, and follow up with patients. Check out this video from Fistula Foundation highlighting our work.
This year has gotten off to a great start with the first fistula camp which began at the end of March. Seventeen women received life-changing surgeries and they are currently healing at Kamuli Mission Hospital. Loy will be following up with each woman in her home to check on their progress after they are discharged from the hospital.
Finally, all 20 Fistula Ambassadors will be coming together for a debrief and refresher training within the next few months. This group did a great job in their first year of work. They will continue doing outreach and patient identification in their communities. This year they will also be focusing on building partnerships at the local health centers. We hope these new partnerships will help identify women with fistula more quickly so they can be taken for surgery promptly.
Keeping checking the UVP Facebook page for more updates on the fistula program as well as the other UVP programs.
Welcoming new villages Each year UVP takes on new villages into our Healthy Villages program. We partner with these villages for a three years providing health education and services and building capacity within the community health workers in the village.
We are excited to be taking on four new villages in Namalemba sub-county this year. Planning meetings have begun with the village leaders to ensure we have their buy in. This is essential as they play a key role in mobilizing the village for outreaches and setting an example for the community members. Additionally, UVP staff is working with the sub-county officials to elect a full five member Village Health Team (VHT). VHTs are tasked with mobilizing for government programs and collecting health data for the government as well as working with any NGOs in the areas. UVP will be providing training for these four new teams and will work with closely with them throughout the three year program.
Program work in these new villages will kick-off in June with the arrival of our summer interns. Stay tuned!
| | Spend a summer in Iganga! We are recruiting for an In-Country Internships Supervisor to help us run the summer internship program. This volunteer two-month position will support the interns and act as a liaison between staff and interns. More details are here.
Improve health UVP relies on donations from people like you to improve health for rural villages. You can make a difference in the life of a family in Uganda. Donate today! 
Laptops needed UVP staff are in need of new-to-them laptops! Several of our current computers are on their last legs, and you can help by donating your old laptop. We'll take care of all the shipping, and you can even get a tax deduction for the donation. Email us for more information.
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