BCH news from Dr Birungi Mutahunga the Executive Director and Oyesiga Barnabas, Communications Team Leader:

Today, as the world comes to terms with an unprecedented health scare and economic downturns across nations due to the COVID-19 pandemic, our spirit and dream for better health will not waver. Together, irrespective of where we live on the planet, we can secure our future and that of generations to come.

The current COVID-19 outbreak has exerted much stress on already meagre resources allocated to healthcare throughout low-income countries, Uganda inclusive.

This presents a real danger of reversing our modest achievements previously made in areas of newborn, maternal and child health not mentioning endemic infectious diseases as malaria, tuberculosis and HIV/AIDS.

With most of the world under lock down, most businesses have been affected and might take a while to recover. Therefore, for communities like Bwindi where healthcare is largely subsidised by tourists and with daily household income average of just over one US dollar, the worst could be yet to come. The most at risk patients, like pregnant women in labour, very sick children, newborns and others that require urgent lifesaving interventions, are at risk of developing complications or even death.

Previously, Bwindi Community Hospital, a private non-profit facility, had registered success in different interventions spanning a whole district of Kanungu with about 300,000 people with one obstetrician, surgeon, and a paediatrician.

We are doing everything possible to sustain basic health services to the community albeit with increasingly limited funding. Our projected deficit over the next 12 months, as a result of COVID-19, is 499,815 USD.

Therefore, please if you are able to donate any of these with any amount at this time, we shall be very grateful.

Buy a mosquito net for a pregnant mother at £5

Ambulance services for expectant mother £37

Care for pregnant mother at £143

Care for a child with Malnutrition £256

Caesarean section at £263

Salary for a midwife or nurse at £344

Salary for a doctor £1180

Monthly Community Health outreach at £5678

If you are unable to donate at this time, you can still advocate for us by sharing our mission with a family member or friend. Even a quick mention on your social media means much to us.

In times like these, it is more vivid how interconnected we all are and, together, we shall save our own lives while hoping for better days ahead. After this, your name will be among those that contributed to the future of Bwindi for the next generations.

Stay well, stay safe.