By KT Reporter
The Korea Foundation for International healthcare-KOFIH, Uganda, has unveiled an 820 million shillings campaign to curb the high rate of waterborne diseases across the Busoga sub-region.
According to the demographic health survey of 2022, diarrheal diseases result in the deaths of 10% of under-five-year-olds across the country. Also, the Ministry of Health’s health management information system as of 2023 indicated that 40% of the outpatient visits in Busoga sub-region are a result of preventable illnesses such as diarrhoea, cholera and typhoid.
A report by the Ministry of Water and Environment as of 2023 indicated that Busoga still grapples with clean water coverage levels rated below 65%, which is way below the national target of 85%.
The two-year project is geared towards reducing the waterborne disease burden from 4% to at least 3.5%. The project, codenamed as Busoga water, sanitation and hygiene(WASH) project on waterborne disease prevention and reduction, will be rolled out in Jinja City and Iganga district.
The project manager, Jung Sang Hoon, says that, their activities will involve the construction of wash facilities in different schools and communities across their targeted areas.
Jung says that they have also rolled out Wash-centred sensitisation drives in different schools to promote hand washing and uptake of clean water. He says that they will also be training health workers on the value of hygiene promotion within their workspaces as a means of reducing the spread of illnesses from one patient to another through failure to wash their hands after body contact while conducting medical examination processes.
This, he says, will provide sustainability and consolidation of the gains earned through the project implementation period and decades to come.
Jung argues that this project is well aligned with SDG6, with emphasis on access to clean water and sanitation, arguing that the project will not only improve local health outcomes but also generate evidence, which informs national policy.
The Chief Executive Officer of Busoga Health Forum-BHF, Moses Kyangwa, says that this initiative offers a platform for health workers to have open interfaces with the communities about the effectiveness of Wash activities in disease prevention.
Kyangwa notes that such initiatives will ultimately result in a new breed of healthy and thriving population base in the Busoga sub-region with minimal disease burden.
The LCV Chairperson, Iganga district, Ezra Gabula, says that they have been grappling with the burden of running water-related campaigns, and this project comes as a boost to their endeavours, which had been lagging in the pipeline due to funding gaps.
Gabula challenged the population to embrace preventive measures against diseases, which are less costly and sustainable compared to treatment modules after infections.
Gabula says that the drugs supplied in government health facilities are minimal compared to the ever-increasing populations, and it is only through embracing preventive measures like hand washing that communities will improve their health.
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