Category Archives: Faculty of Public Health, Nursing and Midwifery

Medical donations eased burdens for Mukono General Hospital

September 29, 2021Faculty of Public Health, Nursing and Midwifery, News, Students, UCU School of MedicinePatty Huston-Holm

Some of the patients in a queue outside the Out Patient Department register for medical services. The hospital attends to about 400 patients per day.

Story and photos by Jimmy Siyasa
Four hundred. That is the number of patients that the medical personnel at Mukono General Hospital in Uganda wake up to each day.

Of the 400, 150 are attended to at the out-patient department and 80 are women receiving antenatal services. Twenty are attended to in the delivery section while 50 go to the hospital to receive family planning services. The hospital handles 6-8 emergency surgeries every day.

That is the life of Mukono General Hospital, a recipient of part of the donations of medical supplies (worth sh520m–$141,488) that UCU Partners coordinated through MedShare, a not-for-profit organisation based in the United States.

The donations were channeled through Uganda Christian University (UCU), which has a working relationship with the hospital. Among other collaboratives, the hospital offers internship placements for the university’s nursing students.

Some of the boxes containing the donations that the hospital received

Dr. Robert Kasirye, the director of the hospital, received the donations which were in form of Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) such as face shields, masks and sanitizer. There also were “mama kits,” a hamper given to a mother to be used during the delivery process. The kits have gloves, surgical blades and gauze, among other items.

These were timely, given that the country’s public health system was strained under the heavy load occasioned by the Covid-19 pandemic that aggravated an already overloaded patient situation.

“We could not afford to give out face shields and gloves to all our health workers, every day, to attend to Covid-19 patients,” says Anne Grace Amutos Ssekajja, the pharmacy technician in charge of medical supplies and incoming and outgoing equipment at the hospital.

“So, when we get donors, we are really grateful,” she said. “The donations add to what we already have for healthcare provision.”

She says the quarterly budget that they get from government did not factor in the pandemic, hence the hospital was caught off-guard.

Public health facilities in Uganda, such as Mukono General Hospital, depend heavily on government funds and medical supplies through the National Medical Stores (NMS), a government entity mandated to procure, store and distribute essential medicines and medical supplies to all public health facilities in Uganda.

But the National Medical Stores often says it runs on a thin budget, which affects service delivery.

The Mukono General Hospital administrator, Fred Wandeme, said the quarterly supplies which they get from the National Medical Stores barely lasts them a month. When the stocks run out, the patients go to the hospital to get prescriptions and later buy the drugs at pharmacies.

However, with the donations, patients and health workers are able to access equipment, which oftentimes is not provided for in the government consignments.

Ivan Kabugo and some of his family members have been receiving treatment at the Mukono General Hospital for three years now. He says they are happy about the donations, noting that they will improve the quality of services they get at the facility.

“We are so grateful for donor support towards the hospital. I pray that they may continue to give us medicines, so that we don’t ever have to buy them,” he says.

Christine Nambuya, another patient, says because of the professionalism exhibited by the staff of the hospital, she will continue receiving treatment at the facility.

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To support Uganda Christian University programs, students, activities and services, go to www.ugandapartners.org and click on the “donate” button, or contact UCU Partners Executive Director, Mark Bartels, at m.t.bartels@ugandapartners.org.

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Ugandan study experience enriches American nurse

September 17, 2021Faculty of Public Health, Nursing and Midwifery, News, Students, UCU Alumni, USPPatty Huston-Holm

Lauren Elaine Nagy graduated with a Bachelor’s of Science in Nursing from Messiah College, Pennsylvania, in May 2021. Courtesy photo

By Jimmy Siyasa
In September 2021, the Kennedy Krieger Institute in Baltimore, Maryland, welcomes a new staff member with Ugandan experience. Lauren Elaine Nagy, hired to be a nurse in the Pediatric Inpatient Rehab Unit, was part of the Uganda Studies Program (USP) at Uganda Christian University in 2018.

Nagy’s employment follows her May 2021 graduation with a Bachelor of Science in Nursing degree from the Messiah College in Pennsylvania and certification as a Registered Nurse. She most recently was a health care provider at a Christian summer camp, Woodcrest Retreat.

Lauren and her family shortly after her graduation. Courtesy photo

Two years before the Covid-19 pandemic, Nagy traveled more than 7,000 miles away from her home as part of the American students who went to UCU for a four-month study abroad program. The trip was under the USP, a two-decades-old program that earlier this year shifted from the Council for Christian Colleges and Universities to under the administrative umbrella of the non-profit, UCU Partners, headquartered in Pennsylvania.

While at UCU, Lauren and other USP colleagues were part of the Global Health Emphasis (GHE). GHE provides an opportunity for students pursuing biomedical and public health-related disciplines to complete global health coursework and international field internship in Uganda.

The USP affords international students an education within an African context. In addition to studies on the UCU Mukono campus, students get a chance to make trips to different parts of Uganda, visit the Equator and sometimes have a 10-day excursion to Rwanda. Some of the students live in the student dormitories on campus, while others are attached to host families.

For Nagy, nothing about UCU stands out more than the institution’s “commitment to integrating faith into all aspects of education.” She says it “created an atmosphere that pushed me to grow in my faith in more ways than I could have expected.”

While on homestay, Nagy lived with a Ugandan family about five minutes away from the university campus. Her camaraderie quickly acclimatized her to the Ugandan culture of the family of Robert Kibirango and Esther Nakato. In fact, she takes pride in the name Nakiryowa (Luganda word for a type of tree) that the family bestowed on her.

She has fond memories of the days she was involved in domestic work that included a unique way of peeling bananas. Clearly, the trip to Uganda gave her another family in addition to her biological one in Pennsylvania. Nagy is the daughter of Daniel Alan Nagy and Karen Lynn Nagy.

“We spent time wandering through fields, exploring plants and anthills, feeding the new calf, picking fresh beans from the garden, and cooking dinner together. It was a beautifully simple time with my family,” she recalls, saying she has continued to keep in touch with the family of Kibirango.

Nagy highly recommends that American university students consider the UCU experience.

“As many people as possible should experience the transformational growth that I did,” Nagy, who attended Chippewa High School in Doylestown, said.

She lauds UCU for the fusion of faith and books in the grooming of nurses because it enables them to dispense care, compassion and comfort. The culture of faith at UCU seemed to rhyme with Nagy’s sole goal in life – living in the center of God’s will for my life and glorifying Him to the fullest.

“It makes me happy to know that such an excellent school as UCU is producing hard-working, highly capable, Christian health care providers to send out into the communities and serve people as the hands and feet of Christ,” she says.

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From taking lives to saving them: One nurse’s story

September 15, 2021Faculty of Public Health, Nursing and Midwifery, News, Students, UCU AlumniPatty Huston-Holm

Denis Kutesa (behind) sharing a light moment with his classmates during their internship at Mukono General hospital. Courtesy photo.

By Eriah Lule
The life of Uganda Christian University (UCU) graduate Denis Kutesa is punctuated by a job where he was forced to take two lives to one where he is saving them. He’s most recently a nurse but formerly a security guard.

His is a tale of losing and regaining hope. His school cycle took a seven-year break because of finances. Kutesa’s father, Simon Nsubuga, who had been meeting his tuition requirements, suddenly lost his job when Kutesa had just completed his A’level. The year was 2009.

For the next seven years, Kutesa went through a storm. He survived the downpour by working as a guard, a primary school teacher – anything and everything to survive. Some of the odd jobs he did were a stark contrast for someone who not long before had attended some of Uganda’s elite schools.

Kutesa, who has freshly completed a Bachelor of Nursing Science course at UCU, studied at St. Mary’s College, Kisubi for O’level and Kibuli Secondary School for A’level. For his primary education, Kutesa attended Nkumba Primary School. All four schools are in central Uganda.

When his father lost his job and was no longer able to meet the tuition requirements of his children, Kutesa left home to seek a livelihood elsewhere. He reasoned that it was not wise for him to stay home, to compete for the little resources that his father and mother – Florence Nakalema – came across. Kutesa relocated to Kampala, where he was employed as a security guard.

“Although the payment was low, I was determined to work and establish myself,’’ he said.

Denis Kutesa inside one of the wards at Mukono General Hospital during his internship. Courtesy photo

In order to start earning sh150,000 (about $40), Kutesa had to endure training sessions under extremely harsh conditions. Worse yet, during that period, they were entitled to only one meal a day. Kutesa endured the training with good performance. He was relocated from Kampala to Masaka, a district in central Uganda. In Masaka, Kutesa mostly guarded banks.

Around the Christmas season of 2014, he was moved from the bank to guard a depot of the soft drink manufacturer – Coca-Cola. During the Christmas festivities, the demand for soda usually goes up and many of the areas are undersupplied. Thieves know this fact and, on the eve of the 2014 Christmas Day, they attacked the depot that Kutesa was guarding. In the battle with five thieves, he was forced to shoot, leaving two dead. Three others fled on a bodaboda.

That incident traumatized Kutesa to the point that his work place had to relocate him to another station in a neighboring district. There, his monthly salary increased to sh200,000 (about $56). However, due to tough working conditions and trauma from taking lives, Kutesa did not last at his new station, later switching to teaching in a primary school although he did not have the official credentials.

In 2016, Kutesa reunited with his father whom he had not seen ever since he left home in 2009. The financial situation at home had changed for the better. Nsubuga beseeched Kutesa to return to school – and that he was ready to meet the tuition requirements.

After consultations, Kutesa found himself applying for a Bachelor of Science in Nursing at UCU. He wanted to be in a career that gave people better lives instead of taking them. While out of school for seven years, that did not reflect in the performance of Kutesa. There is no UCU semester where his GPA was below 4.0 of 5.0.

He says pursuing his course at UCU made it easy for him to get internship placements since the institution is highly respected. Now that he has completed an internship, Kutesa hopes to pursue a post-graduate course so he can specialize in nursing education or midwifery.

As he heads to the hospital wards as his new work station, Kutesa is fully aware that he needs to be strong enough to tolerate anything and soft enough to understand every patient he will work on.

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Faith helps nursing intern work in time of Covid

September 13, 2021COVID-19, Faculty of Public Health, Nursing and Midwifery, News, Students, UCU Alumni, UCU School of MedicinePatty Huston-Holm

Story and Photos by Jimmy Siyasa
It was a hot Tuesday afternoon. But the energy with which the medical workers carried out their duties made one think the afternoon heat was only in the mind.

“Right now, we are from the post-natal ward and from administering the 2 p.m. medicine to new mothers in the ward,” says one of the medical practitioners. She also had been assisting midwives as they helped mothers deliver.

This is the routine of Sonia Aturinda, a third-year student pursuing a Bachelor of Nursing Science, at Uganda Christian University (UCU). She is at the Mukono General Hospital, where she is on a three-month internship.

Sonia sanitizes her hands after attending to a patient inside the post-natal ward at Mukono General Hospital.

As an intern in the post-natal ward at the hospital, Aturinda is charged with offering maternal and neo-natal care services – mostly administration of medicine to new mothers.

However, because of her excellent performance, her responsibilities have expanded to sometimes offering umbilical cord care, counsel to new mothers, providing family planning advice and, occasionally, assisting midwives in executing deliveries.

Aturinda said she is on internship at the hospital with 23 other colleagues of hers in the same class.

Every morning, Aturinda walks from her hostel, located about 500 metres (about 1/3 mile) from the hospital and only returns after about seven hours. Sometimes, she works on Saturdays, too.

For Aturinda, her service, though unpaid, is more than just a mere mandatory three-month internship ritual that she must fulfil to merit a university degree. She is living her passion. And she tries her best to be the nurse she would want as a patient.

“I have passion for the medical field, especially being directly engaged with patients during their lowest and most vulnerable moment, so that I am able to support them through their recovery,” she says, adding: “I like the counseling session, especially when I am comforting and encouraging the patients.”

Sonia Aturinda stands at the entrance of the Mukono General Hospital Maternity Department at the end of her morning shift.

In May, the World Health Organisation (WHO) Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told the WHO annual assembly that many medical workers became infected with Covid-19 during 18 months of work to save “countless lives and fought for others who, despite their best efforts have slipped away.”

So, looking at the statistics of health workers who have succumbed to Covid-19, does being in the wards bother Aturinda?

“Of course, it does, but I just need to have faith and be strong, while maintaining the Standard Operating Procedures that have been put in place for us to keep safe,” she says, noting that patients must be attended to.

While there was debate on whether or not nursing students should continue with their internships, especially during a time when the second wave of the Covid-19 had peaked and the number of deaths increased, the UCU administration decided that students whose internships were in progress by the time of lockdown could safely carry on.

The university reasoned that termination of the training would prove counterproductive, especially for finalists.

Upon reaching a consensus with students, the Vice Chancellor, Prof. Aaron Mushengyezi, issued a memo, giving the greenlight to the internship.

The head of the Nursing and Midwifery Department, Mrs. Elizabeth Nagudi Situma, believes their deployment is a blessing in disguise because they are adding to the national taskforce, given the shortage of health workers in the country. She said working during the peak of the pandemic offers the students a rare opportunity to learn the management of highly infectious diseases.

However, Nagudi and the Vice Chancellor say the students are always reminded to observe safety protocols.

Aturinda says the main challenge they face is insufficiency or delayed delivery of the Personal Protective Equipment (PPEs). This includes gloves, which makes attending to HIV-positive mothers delivering or at the post-natal unit a challenge.

Aturinda is looking forward to her graduation in 2022, after which she intends to pursue a post-graduate diploma in gynecology, to buttress her love for the field of maternal child care and reproductive health – her childhood dream.

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American couple relocates to Uganda to share career experiences with UCU

September 8, 2021Faculty of Public Health, Nursing and Midwifery, News, UCU Alumni, UCU School of Business, UCU School of LawPatty Huston-Holm

The Rangers at the Source of River Nile in Jinja, Uganda. Courtesy photo.

By Jimmy Siyasa and Lule Eriah
While growing up, the idea of Christian ministry on the ground in Africa did not cross the minds of Americans Richard Ranger and his wife, Catherine. But, as adults and later in life, two main incidents made the couple start pondering such a mission that now has them living on the Uganda Christian University (UCU) campus in Mukono.

First, it was a 2017 call by a friend, Prof. Brian Dennison, who, like the Rangers, also is a former Society of Anglicans Missionaries and Senders (SAMS) missionary and, like Richard, a Law lecturer at UCU. Dennison, then moved back to the United States with his family, reminded the couple that their love for the university as Washington, D.C., hosts for Ugandans had been noticed and that many students spoke highly of them.

The Rangers gave a thought to Dennison’s suggestion that they might consider doing more. They also consulted with Mark Bartels, the Executive Director of UCU Partners. After this consultation and prayer, they were still not yet persuaded.

The second thing to happen was an invitation extended to them by a UCU alumnus, friend and lecturer – Arnold Agaba – to serve at the institution. That, along with more prayer, sealed the deal.

The house where the Rangers reside at Tech Park in UCU. Courtesy photo.

“We came to UCU in particular, when Agaba Arnold offered us a specific role in the Faculty of Law,” says Catherine Ranger, who, like her husband, has a law degree. “It was a huge affirmation of our call.”

Soon, it was time to prepare for travel. This should have been easy because during Richard’s 43-year career, he worked at three different organizations, meaning the family had to relocate whenever he got a new employer.

This time around, though, there were added challenges. Richard Ranger had a brief bout with cancer. They had to be Covid vaccinated. And the Rangers were travelling to a country, Uganda, that was in a lockdown because of a pandemic surge.

“All the challenges, such as the Covid lockdown, Richard’s cancer, raising money for the support that came after making our decision and committing to coming, were viewed as bumps on the road, not demands to turn aside,” Catherine Ranger says.

Indeed, on their journey, more bumps emerged. For instance, the Rangers missed their flights at some point. However, whenever that happened, they had people who God used to come to their rescue. For instance, when they missed their flight from Dulles twice, they were hosted by a friend while their travel agent re-ticketed them at a subsidized rate.

When they landed in Uganda on June 20, 2021, their U.S. friends had made the necessary travel arrangement for them from Entebbe to Mukono. Together with their dog, Trooper, the Rangers were ushered into a duplex unit, at a section of the university called Tech Park.

Richard says that it is the prayers, encouragement, mentorship and financial support of friends that have sustained them.

A week into their stay at UCU, Richard, 69, and Catherine, 64, celebrated their 43rd wedding anniversary. Their intention is to celebrate five of more such anniversaries in Uganda.

The benevolence of Richard and Catherine towards UCU is new on the ground but not new overall. In 2004, their friend, Dr. Mary Seagull from the United States Aid for International Development (USAID), persuaded the mission community at All Saints Church Chevy Chase in Washington, D.C., to give scholarships to nursing students at UCU. The Rangers were part of this church and they participated in the charity.

Five years later, through the Uganda Partners, they supported UCU students who were to compete in the Jessup International Law Moot Court Competitions in the US. The Jessup moot court competition is the oldest and largest in the world, attracting participants from close to 700 law schools in more than 90 countries.

“We had one free room and a sofa set and accepted to house three of the students from the team,” Catherine said.

The following year, they housed another team that had travelled for the moot court competitions, for two weeks.

Currently, Catherine serves as an administrator at the John Sentamu Institute for Human Rights and Humanitarian Law, an affiliate of the UCU Faculty of Law. Richard, on the other hand, shares his more than two-decade experience in the oil and gas industry with students and staff in both Law and the UCU School of Business. Richard will assist as a lecturer and advisor to students in the graduate programs in oil and gas, and energy in the Faculty of Law as well as some teaching/consulting role with the School of Business.

He also hopes to tap the knowledge of his professional colleagues back at home in the U.S. via online distance lectures so they can supplement his contribution.

In his work with the students, Richard envisages helping them to integrate questions relating to the economic development of the oil resource, the conservation of the surrounding environment, and the concerns and interests of stakeholders whom the project may affect, to be able to make informed recommendations to her clients or her management.

The beating that many education institutions have gotten from the Covid-19 pandemic has led to the adoption of virtual, as well as blended learning. Richard believes there is a contribution he can make on that front, too. Prior to his retirement, his last employer, the American Petroleum Institute, begun to increase its use of remote teleconferencing – skills Richard has carried into his retirement activities.

“Since my retirement, I have been actively participating in remote teleconferencing by Zoom, Skype, and Microsoft Teams for attendance at professional symposia, a project working group comprised of fellow graduates of my undergraduate alma mater, Dartmouth College,” he says.

He believes that virtual communication is a necessary and useful tool in learning across the distances of Uganda and the world.

For the next five years, the couple targets to contribute what they have learned and experienced in their different careers and in the 43 years of marriage and service to God. The couple also hopes to assist UCU’s law and business programs to educate Christian professionals hoping they buttress their careers with the university’s five values of Christ-centeredness, diligence, integrity, servanthood and stewardship.

For the time they will be at UCU, the couple says they will rely on prayer and financial support from generous friends, donors and churches back in the U.S. They do not see giving up on the mission as an option.

Both Catherine and Ricard graduated from law school, but have never practiced law. Catherine graduated from the University of Colorado in 1983. Richard graduated from the University of Denver in 1977. The couple has one adult child, Owen Ranger.

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UCU alumna Nakkonde: Helps the sick ‘even when heavy laden’

September 3, 2021Faculty of Public Health, Nursing and Midwifery, News, UCU Alumni, UCU School of MedicinePatty Huston-Holm

Veronica Rachel Nakkonde with one of her friends at Mulago Hospital. Courtesy Photo

By Eriah Lule
The love for her profession more often than not makes this 25-year-old nurse forget her shift has ended, and, therefore, she should head home. Her name is Veronica Rachael Nakkonde and her level of devotion is just like founder of modern nursing Florence Nightingale would put it “as hard a preparation, as any painter’s work.”

Many of the patients Nakkonde meets, she may never see again. But that does not affect the way she treats them – like kin.

Veronica at work at one of the AAR branches. Photo by Eriah Lule

“I am humbled to have Veronica on our team. She does everything wholeheartedly,” Dr. Isaac Kintu, Nakkonde’s supervisor at the Africa Air Rescue (ARR), a health service provider, said. “No wonder all our clinics want to feel her services.”

Nakkonde, a 2019 graduate of Uganda Christian University (UCU) with a Bachelor of Nursing Science, has a reputation of remarkable management and treatment of patients. This gets her on rotational duty at the various branches of AAR in Kampala, Uganda – something that does not happen with all her nurse colleagues.

“I can’t guarantee you which clinic I’m based because I am always transferred almost every day, to where there is bigger demand,” Nakkonde, who says she joined the profession because she desired to care for the sick and burdened people, explains.

“It is good for her because she gets exposure, moving from one clinic to the other,” Kintu notes.

So, how does Nakkonde manage to carry the heavy load on a daily basis? “I love my profession and that is why, even though sometimes I feel heavy-laden, I just pull myself back to deliver,” she says.

Nakkonde believes that if the UCU School of Medicine continues with the way it delivers knowledge, it will keep churning out health workers who observe ethical standards with high Christian values and professionalism – virtues she says the university imparts on its students, for them to have an edge on the job market.

Alice Bakunda, a nursing lecturer at the UCU School of Medicine, explains what takes place during the training: “We prepare our students for the field,” she said. “That’s why we take them to different hospitals to attain exposure and experience, which helps them tackle different issues and to be able to multi-task.’’

Veronica with her parents on UCU graduation day. Courtesy Photo

Upon graduation with summa cum laude status from UCU, Nakkonde had her internship at the Mulago National Referral Hospital. From Mulago, she joined AAR.

Nakkonde Background
She is the second-last born of the seven children of Joseph and Justine Kkonde who live at Seeta in Mukono district, central Uganda.

Nakkonde attended primary school at Seeta Boarding Primary School and Stella Maris Boarding School. She later joined Trinity College Nabbingo for secondary school.

“From childhood, my parents kept encouraging me to pursue sciences,” she said. “And, I also had the passion for them.”

No wonder, in 2015, when Nakkonde applied at UCU to pursue a course, her option was Bachelor of Nursing Science. She does not regret the decision.

Like it is the case with many other students, Nakkonde did not survive the perils of financial challenges, despite studying on a scholarship from a Church-founded organization, Caritas. At some point, she says the sponsors pulled out, so she had to resort to her parents to provide the additionally needed finances.

As a nurse, Nakkonde says she encounters many challenges, such as keeping calm while dealing with rude clients and a low salary.

“Sometimes, we feel our payment does not match the work load, because we find it difficult to cover most of our living expenses,” she said.”

Nakkonde intends to enroll for a Master of Nursing Science at the UCU School of Medicine. She is certain that a master’s degree will increase her chances for promotion at the work place and enable her to serve even more.

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Passion to save lives drives UCU nursing alumnus

September 1, 2021Faculty of Public Health, Nursing and Midwifery, News, StudentsPatty Huston-Holm

By Yasiri J. Kasango
They work late. They stay awake much of the night. They are witnesses to tragedies in people’s health. Despite all the challenges that medical practitioners face, Apollo Amanya had set his eyes on being one. All he wanted was to bring back good health to those who lacked it.

As a result, in 2011, when Uganda Christian University (UCU) admitted students for the course of Bachelor of Nursing Science, Amanya was among them. His determination to pursue the course was so strong that not even challenges of meeting the tuition demands could faze it.

At the time, students paid sh1.4 million (about $400) in tuition for the course and another sh550,000 (about $155) as “other fees” per semester. As such, the 31-year-old says he struggled to complete the four-year course. And it seems he was not the only student facing financial challenges. Many of his colleagues dropped out of the course over the four years.

Since Amanya’s parents were peasants, he did not expect much from them. He, therefore, took matters into his own hands, and started searching for scholarships. In his second year, he applied for one – the Muljibhai Madhvani Foundation Scholarships. However, he was not as lucky. He missed the offer. But Amanya is not one who can easily lose hope. In his third year, he applied for the scholarship again. This time, he was among the recipients.

After graduating in 2015, Amanya went back home to his parents – Godfrey Bahemurwa and Medius Biretsire – residents of Mitooma district in western Uganda. For one year he was in Mitooma, helping his parents with farm work before he got his first job. Bahemurwa has since passed away.

Amanya’s first job was as a nursing officer at Nakasero Hospital in Kampala. After a year at Nakasero, he left for UMC Victoria Hospital, also in Kampala. At Victoria, Amanya worked as an Intensive Care Unit nursing officer for four years. After five years as a medical practitioner, Amanya switched to academia.

However, due to the love to practice medicine, it did not take Amanya long before returning to applying his health care skills. In fact, the same year – 2020 – when he left UMC Victoria University, was the same year he joined the national army, the Uganda People’s Defence Forces, as the acting principal nursing officer at the Senior Officers’ Diagnostics Centre. The facility, located in Mbuya, a Kampala suburb, treats soldiers from the rank of Major and above, plus their families.

“The principal nursing officer acts as the head of the nurses and the role includes coming up with working schedules for the them,” Amanya says, noting that the position is a busy one, requiring someone to work for extra hours on some days.

Many civilians are apprehensive to work in a community as reclusive as that of soldiers. Was that not the case with Amanya? He says his case was not any different. However, with time, he discovered that it was “amazing working at the center and that the soldiers are friendly.”

Amanya says the empathy that he applies in his current work is a virtue he learned while pursuing the Bachelor of Nursing Science course at UCU. He says he loved studying at UCU because the university teaches nurses to be empathetic to patients.

“The curriculum of nursing at UCU has also got foundation course units, such as Understanding Christian Ethics, which shape the world views of students,” he said.

The Christian World View course unit emphasises how students relate and handle their clients from a Christian perspective.

Amanya is married to Aisha Atwemerireho and the couple has a son, age two. Being a busy man at his workstation, he said, has not stopped his dream of becoming a consultant in nursing.

To buttress his qualification for consultancy, in 2019, Amanya enrolled for a Master of Nursing Science degree at UCU. He says he was inspired by some of his lecturer-colleagues at the Kampala International University who possessed the same qualification.

The two-year course is modular in nature, with each year having three modules and each module lasting five weeks. Students pay sh1.5 million (about $425) per module, in tuition fees. He also has to part with an additional sh751,000 (about $212) for other fees.

Despite being enthusiastic about nursing, Amanya expressed his pain about the working conditions of nurses in Uganda. He says they are “paid peanuts” and are sometimes not given adequate protective gear at work, exposing them to infections from the patients they treat.

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Partners-sponsored student Uwimbabazi on why studying at UCU was a dream come true

August 30, 2021Faculty of Public Health, Nursing and Midwifery, News, StudentsPatty Huston-Holm

Uwimbabazi graduated from UCU in 2020 with a Bachelor’s of Nursing Science. She specializes in sexual and reproductive health. Courtesy photo.

By Jimmy Siyasa
In 2019, Uganda Partners profiled Uwimbabazi Sarah, who was a recipient of a scholarship for her Bachelor of Nursing Science course at the Uganda Christian University (UCU). In the profile, when asked how she would use her degree, Uwimbabazi said: “I will go back to my hospital and deliver holistic nursing care to the people within and outside the hospital, with interest in maternal and child health for the betterment of our community and nation.”

Two years later, Uwimbabazi manages the Uganda Sexual Health and Public Education (USHAPE) project in Uganda. USHAPE is a family planning program owned by the Margaret Pyke Trust, a UK project. Uwimbabazi got the job in 2020. She also is currently undergoing her mandatory internship at the Bwindi Community Hospital in Kanungu, western Uganda.

Her work at USHAPE includes coordinating a team of health workers with whom she conducts community outreaches to sensitize people about family planning and sexual health. She says because she has a soft spot for mothers, they open up to her during consultations.

Uwimbabazi’s introduction to the field of medicine dates back to when she was in secondary school. She befriended an American couple, Scott and Carol Kellermann, who were Christian missionaries and medics, giving her an opportunity to appreciate what they were doing. The Kellermanns founded the Bwindi Community Hospital in 2003.

In 2009, as a nurse at Bwindi Community Hospital, a mother took her a sick child who seemed to be suffering from a respiratory blockage.

“At first, I feared, because I thought the child would die,” she narrated.

Overwhelmed by the fear that had overcome the mother, Uwimbabazi laid her hands over the child, and prayed fervently. She then sucked out the mucus-like substance that had blocked the baby’s respiratory system. In no time, the child’s condition stabilized.

“I felt so grateful to God,” Uwimbabazi, age 34, said. “That was my best moment as a nurse. I forgot about the cold, sleepless night that evening.”

Studying at UCU was a dream come true for Uwimbabazi. At some point, before 2017, she had given up the hope of enrolling for university education. She met the academic requirements to be admitted. In fact, she was even admitted, but did not have the financial muscle to pay tuition. At the time, she held a Diploma in Nursing that she had attained in 2012 at the Kinkizi School of Comprehensive Nursing.

“I had always wanted to pursue a course at UCU. It offers a unique experience which sets one apart,” she said. “They offer foundational course units, such as writing and study skills, which give us an upper hand at the work place.”

Uwimbabazi, her husband, Robert and their children during family time. Courtesy photo.

Her husband, Robert Kamugisha, also an alumnus of UCU, was partly the stimulant for her inclination to UCU. She recounted how he never ceased to sing praises of the institution. (See Partners’ link to his story in 2019.)

“He talked about how the institution impacted his life. All I wanted was to have the same experience. Indeed, I had the best time when I joined,” the mother of three children said.

In 2017, the miracle that Uwimbabazi had been praying for happened. An acquaintance, Sarah, from Israel, offered to sponsor her, through the UCU Partners organization. “That was one of the best moments in my life. I could not believe it, when I saw the email from Sarah, telling me to prepare for school…”

Uwimbabazi graduated from UCU in February 2020. While in her last year at UCU, she was worried about having to study for an extra year.

However, to her surprise, she says her lecturers were considerate and supportive. Uwimbabazi delivered her baby four days prior to exams. She would later display courage by writing all her exam papers. But it did not come that easy.

“There were days when I got off the seat, knelt or sat on the ground to write my exam papers. The pain was too much yet I was determined to complete my course,” she recalls.

Despite the challenges, Uwimbabazi shocked everyone by scoring a 4.6 GPA of 5.0 that semester. She hopes to enroll for a Master of Nursing Science course at UCU in 2022.

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Writing, health care and acting blend as passions for UCU student

June 24, 2021Faculty of Public Health, Nursing and Midwifery, News, Students, UCU School of MedicinePatty Huston-Holm

UCU Public Health Student, Stella Mirembe

By Yasiri J. Kasango
Acting, health care and writing are Stella Mirembe’s passions. However, among the three, Mirembe would prefer she is not asked where her love is. She does not know.

During her secondary school, Mirembe spent time fine-tuning her acting skills. After the six years of acting in secondary school, it was writing that earned Mirembe her first ever payment in life. Writing also brought her international recognition.

While in Senior Six long holidays, Mirembe was writing articles for Upwork, a web-based platform that was linking her to people who wanted writers.

However, when university studies came calling, she put writing on hold. She hopes to resurrect her writing passion later. In 2018, Mirembe joined Uganda Christian University to study towards a Bachelor of Public Health. She says her course in public health will help her engage different communities on good health practices as well as help her write better health-related articles.

It was Mirembe’s late father who first saw her potential in acting. While in Senior Two, Elias Kyewalabye encouraged his daughter to act a play off the famous book, Betrayal in the City, by Kenyan playwright Francis Imbuga. He was impressed by Mirembe’s performance and encouraged her not to drop her passion. Kyewalabye has since passed on, and Mirembe is working hard to achieve the dreams of her father.

She currently graces the TV screens as an actress in a Ugandan series, Prestige, which airs on DStv’s Pearl Magic Prime. The channel is dedicated to Ugandan local content.

As a child, Miremebe used to act in Sunday school plays. She attended Uganda’s Gayaza High School and, later, Makerere College School for her A’level. Even while in secondary school, acting was part of Mirembe’s life.

“In Gayaza High School, I acted in Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream,” she says.

Internationally, Mirembe is a great admirer of Jennifer Aniston, an American actress, producer and businesswoman.

The outbreak of Covid-19 and the subsequent closure of schools forced Mirembe to go back into acting. In August 2020, she exploited the chance of carrying on her dream. Her mother, Dr. Elizabeth Kyewalabye, encouraged her to audition for the Prestige series when calls were put out. And she was successful. She says acting helped to relieve her of some of the stress occasioned by the lockdown in 2020.

When the government announced the reopening of schools, Mirembe was excited to return for face-to-face classes so she fulfils her dream of becoming a health worker, so she is able to help communities around her to exercise better health practices.

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UCU appoints new deans, heads of departments

May 24, 2021Bishop Tucker School of Divinity and Theology, Faculty of Agricultural Sciences, Faculty of Engineering, Design & Technology, Faculty of Public Health, Nursing and Midwifery, SRPGS, UCU School of Business, UCU School of Dentistry, UCU School of Education, UCU School of Journalism, Media and Communication, UCU School of Law, UCU School of Medicine, UCU School of Social SciencesPatty Huston-Holm

Some new UCU Deans and Heads of Departments present for announcement at a May 2021 function at the Hamu Mukasa University Library. Photo/ Israel Kisakye

By Jimmy Siyasa
The Uganda Christian University has announced a change of the guard within its faculties and departments.

The announcement was made by the university’s Deputy Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs, the Rev. Dr. John Kitayimbwa, during the farewell for some of the outgoing leaders and the unveiling of the new guard. The ceremony took place on May 10 in the Learning Commons Room, located at the Hamu Mukasa University Library.

The Rev. Dr. John Kitayimbwa unveils a list of some new deans and heads of departments. Photo/ Israel Kisakye

“Covid-19 has shifted the demands,” UCU Vice Chancellor Associate Professor Aaron Mushengyezi said as he urged the new leaders to be creative in their work. “And so, as we come in to lead, please take note, you are not going to lead with the ordinary tools your predecessors have led with. You will require new tools because wholly duplicating what your predecessors did, may not work.”

Due to the “new normal” presented by the Covid-19 pandemic, Mushengyezi said all programs will have a digital equivalent.

“Covid-19 has changed the academic landscape,” he said. “And so, one of the main tasks for you is to pioneer and continue to consolidate e-learning.”

The university’s council chairperson, the Rt. Rev. Can. Prof. Alfred Olwa, congratulated the new leaders and thanked the outgoing for their dedication and hard work.

The newly appointed Head of the Department of Literature and Languages, Dr. James Tabu Busimba, was delighted by his new role at UCU. Busimba recently retired from a public university, Makerere, after clocking 60 years.

“I think serving in an institution that has one of its core values as Christ-centeredness is such a golden opportunity,” Busimba said. “I am grateful to God.”

According to the Rev. Dr. John Kitayimbwa, the Deputy Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs, who unveiled the new team, the UCU Statute for Appointment of deans and heads of departments mandates that the appointments are ratified by the University Senate and then submitted to the institution’s human resource board for consideration.

Comments from some of the leaders
“To me, serving in Uganda Christian University is building the kingdom of God,” Professor Martin Lwanga, former Dean, School of Business, said. “It is a privilege, and some of us are still available to serve at this great institution.”

Eriah Nsubuga, the Head of the Fine Arts Department, said: “It is unusual times. But an opportunity for us to reengineer how we do things. And one thing I like about UCU is that they care for their staff.”

“This year, we are changing direction as a university,” said Prof. Kukunda Elizabeth Bacwayo, the dean of the School of Research and Post Graduate Studies. “We shall provide a bigger amount of funding to professors, to lead various teams of researchers.”

The changes that were announced in May 2021

Faculty/ Department	New Head of Department	Predecessor
School of Research and Post-Graduate Studies	Dr. Emilly Comfort Maractho (Now the Director- UCU Africa Policy Center) Also Head of the Department of Journalism and Media Studies, until contract expires on 31 May 2021	Reverend Professor Lawrence Adams
Faculty of Social Sciences	Mr. Kasule Kibirige Solomon
Department of Social Work and Social Administration. (Expired contract )	Mr. Kasule Kibirige Solomon	Contract renewed
Faculty of Education and Arts
Department of Languages and Literature	Dr. James Taabu Busimba	Mr. Peter Mugume
Honors College	Ms. Pamela Tumwebaze	Reverend Abel Kibedi
Department of Art and Design	Dr. Eriah Nsubuga	Dr. Joel Masagazi
Department of Education	Dr. Mary Kagoire	Dr. Joel Masagazi
School of Business
Department of Management and Entrepreneurship	Mr. Martin Kabanda	Mrs. Elsie Mirembe Nsiyona
Faculty of Health Sciences
Department of Public Health	Dr. Edward Mukooza	Dr. Ekiria Kikule

ASSOCIATE DEAN APPOINTMENTS

Faculty	New Dean	Predecessor
Faculty of Social Sciences	Rev. Dr. Andrew David Omona	Prof. Mary Ssonko Nabachwa
School of Business	Mr. Vincent Kisenyi	Assoc. Professor Martin Lwanga
School of Medicine	Dr. Gerald Tumusiime	Has been acting Dean, but now is the substantive Dean
Faculty of Engineering, Technology & Design	Assoc. Prof. Eng. Eleanor Wozei
School of Law	Dr. Peter David Mutesasira	Dr. Roselyn Karugonjo Segawa
Faculty of Education and Arts	Rev. Can. Dr. Olivia Nassaka Banja	Effective date: September 1, 2021

CONTRACT RENEWALS

Faculty	Dean/ Department Head	Renewal Date
Faculty of Journalism, Media and Communication	Professor Monica Chibita	To be communicated
Department of Communication	Dr. Angela Napakol	Effective date: June 1, 2021
Bishop Tucker School of Theology	Rev. Can. Prof. Christopher Byaruhanga	Renewed in December 2020
Faculty of Health Science	Dr. Miriam Gesa Mutabazi	Renewed but not communicated

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‘Nothing inspires me like bringing new life into the world’

July 8, 2020Faculty of Public Health, Nursing and Midwifery, UCU Alumni, UCU School of Medicine#Ibanda, #Maternalhealth, #UgandaChristianUniversity, Nursing, UgandaPartnersPatty Huston-Holm

UCU Alum Christine Nimwesiga poses with a group of nurses after training them on maternal health practices.

By Alex Taremwa

(NOTE: Story and photos were generated before Uganda’s COVID-19 lockdown.)

Buried deep in the western region of Ibanda District is Uganda Christian University (UCU) Nursing Graduate Christine Nimwesiga. A trained nurse and midwife, she deputizes the District Health Officer and has been at it for seven years since she was transferred from Kisoro District.

Ibanda is a district on the verge of a municipality status, but its maternal and infant mortality leaves a lot to be desired.

“When I joined, the district registered about 18 maternal deaths,” Nimwesiga said. “but we have halved that figure to about eight and even those are referrals from outside districts.”

She is not just an administrative person. She is a self-motivated nurse and midwife who gets her hands dirty in the field. In her own words, nothing inspires her like the delivering a newborn, especially being there for that first cry.

UCU Nursing Graduate Christine Nimwesiga reviews district Maternal and Neonatal Health records with a nurse at Ruhoko Health Center in Ibanda district.

Among Nimwesiga’s accomplishments in Ibanda is that 77% of pregnant mothers deliver in hospitals. She achieves this using Village Health Teams (VHTs) and Traditional Birth Attendants (TBAs) that are trained to encourage hospital-administered deliveries.

However, needs remain. She admits that although 86% of pregnant women turn up for the first antenatal check-ups in hospitals, only 46% return for the fourth visit. As a result, cases of severe anaemia and haemorrhages manifest often during birth, some causing maternal deaths.

Documenting the need in 2018, Nimwesiga presented a research paper at the annual Nurses Celebrations. It was titled; “Assessment of adherence to iron and folic supplementation among pregnant women attending ANC.” Her results revealed that pregnant women do not take supplement iron and folic recommended during pregnancy; hence, the anaemia.

As a result, she has developed plans to train nurses on identification of potential complicated births, structured stakeholder meetings in the health sector to adopt interventions that are making Ibanda some kind of a model district.

“I have formed committees at each of the 22 high volume delivery health centres where we monitor, record, follow-up and report on each prenatal, neonatal or postnatal deaths. The results are what inform our interventions,” she said.

Nimwesiga revived the technical support supervision committees that train and mentor health workers on safe delivery, nutrition and baby resuscitation for children born when they can’t breathe, and these committees trickle down to Sub-County and Parish levels.

“It was an intentional career development plan,” she said. “Every year, I ensure that we send one nursing officer, two enrolled nurses and two enrolled midwives to school. Now I have a pool of professional staff to pick from. I have even put it in the budget that at least three nurses attend the annual nurses’ celebrations.”

Personal goals
Nimwesiga’s kind of nursing is an evidence-based one. She would rather spend her day researching, publishing and studying on solutions to her people’s problems but she has no financial support for her research. She can neither publish nor go to the field.

“Most funders want to channel their support through universities leaving most of us with valuable field knowledge and access to respondents out. In places like here, we are in a pool of data but a local government will always remain local. We have no funding, no Internet, nothing,” she lamented.

Nimwesiga, age 38, wants to have her PhD by the time she is 45. She will then join academia, grants writing and research and perhaps move close to her family that currently lives over 300kms (186 miles) away in Kisoro.

UCU relationship
Nimwesiga holds UCU in a special place in her heart. Not only did she get a promotion after her MA in Nursing, she also has been involved in the Department’s activities and ensures that UCU Nursing graduates get internship and employment places. In the future, she hopes UCU can implement plans to conduct speciality continuous development courses for working graduates.

“Our staffing is at 67% – both medical and support staff,” she said. “Compared with other places, we seem to better off but when you compare with the population of 270,500, we are limping. So I created two positions under me for capacity building and most of these are UCU graduates.”

Nimwesiga has won several scholarships including a 10-day leadership course in South Africa that she began in March. The course was taught in South Africa and only four participants were from Africa, and she is the only Ugandan.

She is grateful to UCU for the opportunities that it gave her and the foundation to take her career by a firm grip. She advises nursing students at UCU to be self-motivated, work passionately and focus on changing the livelihoods of the people in their communities.

“Your actions will sell you. I love my profession. I am a born nurse and it gives me great pleasure to serve my people. It has taken me places,” she concluded.

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Apac, Uganda, nursing school director credits UCU for her impact

July 2, 2020Faculty of Public Health, Nursing and Midwifery, Students, UCU School of Medicine#FaithPassionAmbition, #healthcare, #HealthInUganda, #MargaretEkel, #UCUGraduateStudentChangingThings, #Uganda Christian Universty, NursingPatty Huston-Holm

Margaret Ekel, founder and director of Florence Nightingale School of Nursing and Mid-wifery in Apac, northern Uganda

By Douglas Olum

While growing up in a northern Uganda village in the 1960s, Margaret Ekel admired nursing assistants who occasionally visited to interact with the people, including her parents, Tezira and Jeremiah Okot. As a young girl, she dreamed of becoming one of these smartly dressed, well-spoken medical people.

In 1968, after learning letter writing in her primary six classes, Ekel, then age 11, used that skill to begin applying to the Lira Mid-wifery Training School, seeking admission to the nursing program. Ekel overstated her age as 14. Unfortunately, because she lacked the minimum academic qualification for admission, she received a denial response with the word “regret.” As Ekel narrated this childhood memory in 2019, she could not help but smile.

“I didn’t understand the word ‘regret’,” she said, laughing.

To Ekel, that rejection was mere postponement of her admission. Her target was to get the ordinary level certificate, which she obtained in 1973. With that in hand, she applied for the nursing course while one of her brothers submitted documents on her behalf for the Laboratory Assistant program. She was admitted for both, but dropped the Laboratory Assistant offer.

After enrolling in the Masaka Nursing and Mid-wifery Training School in central Uganda, Ekel encountered challenges with the practical side of learning, including the administration of injections to patients. Giving a shot was terrifying as was dealing with death. When patients died, she hid inside a small room until the body was wrapped and taken away.

“Whenever I would lose a patient, I would cry with the relatives instead of simply empathizing with them as the profession requires,” she said. “I kept wondering why my fellow nurses would not drop a tear.”

With the help of tutors and colleagues, Ekel overcame these professional obstacles. With a midwifery certificate, she pursued a diploma in Nursing from Mulago School of Nursing and Mid-wifery before taking on a tutorship training course.

Realizing the gaps in the Uganda’s health sector, Ekel, who had worked in Government Hospitals, including at Nebbi Hospital in the West Nile region, knew that she could not do that single handedly. She opted for an early retirement from Government service as a nurse to pursue further studies so that she could influence the change she desires through imparting the knowledge and skills for a younger generation to close those gaps. So she decided to establish a school of nursing to train more Ugandans at certificate level in Apac District, Northern Uganda shortly after graduating from UCU.

Margaret Ekel at graduation from UCU in March 2014. She received her Bachelor of Nursing Science degree before enrolling for a Masters in the same field.

Ekel received a Bachelor of Nursing Science degree from the Uganda Christian University (UCU) in March 2014.

“My training in UCU opened my eyes to see the profession from a different perspective,” she said. “I was taken through the details of essentials like nursing care and nursing problems – which deals with how nurses can connect emotionally with their patients, listen to them and discover problems that could delay their healing processes.”

A mother of five boys and a girl, Ekel, who is currently a student in the Master of Nursing Science program at UCU, is founder and director of Florence Nightingale School of Nursing and Mid-wifery in Apac, northern Uganda. The school runs alongside a sister hospital, Nightingale Hospital, Apac.

Through her school and hospital, Ekel hopes to restore patients’ hopes in the nursing profession by restoring what she considers the lost image of the profession. Administratively, Ekel says her time at UCU has made her a leader with a difference because through the various fellowships and prayer sessions, she learned that it was important to involve God in everything.

“Seeing the Vice Chancellor go to eat with students at the DH (Dining Hall) taught me key leadership skills like paying attention to the people you lead, listening to them and being humble all the time,” Ekel said.

In August 2018, Ekel suddenly collapsed while she was interacting with visitors from Gulu Regional Blood Bank who had checked into her school. She was rushed to Nightingale Hospital in Apac, where she was resuscitated before being referred to Nakasero Hospital for CT Scan and Naguru Hospital for a surgical procedure. Investigations revealed that she had cerebral thrombosis, a blood clot condition in the brain, which meant the vein that supplies oxygen to her brain was blocked and she needed to stay away from stressful and physically hectic duties. The condition is normally permanent in patients, which meant she had to drop out of her masters program which she painfully did.

But to her surprise, about a year later, a doctor told Ekel that her condition had normalized. She remembers asking the doctor what could have healed her, to which the doctor reportedly responded: “Somehow God has planted a new vein to supply your brain.”

In April 2020, she was considering a return to complete her course with mostly individual research remaining.

Because of that miraculous healing, Ekel believes that: “When you are with Christ, it is different than when you are with the world.”

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Community collaboration is asset to quality nurse delivery in Uganda

June 24, 2020Faculty, Faculty of Public Health, Nursing and Midwifery, Students, UCU School of Medicine#elderly, #healthcare, #SchoolofMedicine, #traditionalhealers, #UgandaChristianUniversity, Nursing, Poverty, UgandaPartnersPatty Huston-Holm

Elizabeth Nagudi Situma, left, UCU Head of Nursing, and students meet with Magdalene Nayonjo, a community resident

By Caleb Bamwesiga

Magdalene Nayonjo is one of 653 residents of Nakkoba Village, located in rural Dundu Parish, Kyampisi Sub County – about a 45-minute mostly bumpy bus ride from the Uganda Christian University (UCU) main campus. At age 89, she’s the one I remember most during a February 2020 trip with UCU Nursing students and their head of department, Elizabeth Nagudi Situma.

Openly in her Luganda language and while plucking tiny stems from the bitter miniature apple fruit called katunkuma, she says she is barren. She admits that over the years she has been shunned for her inability to have children. Now approaching 90 years, however, she is an accepted part of her community. With her husband who has had other wives with children, she is content.

Segayi Dessan Salongo, coordinator for UCU nursing student visit in Nakkoba

Segayi Dessan Salongo, a village council member and the student nurse contact for the day, agrees. Magdalene is a respected and valued member of this poverty-stricken village. He supports the student visits not just for their ability to apply learning but also for what they teach residents about health care. In this village, safe drinking water is not abundant. There is no health care facility or pharmacy. Knowledge of the importance of cleanliness is sparse.

Elizabeth Nagudi Situma, who sits next to me enroute to and from the village and remains with me as I meet residents, explains that these visits are part of the year four learning for students working toward a UCU Bachelors of Nursing Science degree within the School of Medicine and give opportunity to students get exposed to health care at the grass roots level.

While healthy for an elderly person, Magdalene struggles more than younger residents who spend hours in farming or brick laying and ride motorcycles called bodabodas into towns with stores and clinics.

In order to address rural and urban health care disparities, Elizabeth says that the university joins forces with the Mukono district health service.

“We signed a memorandum of understanding with the Mukono district health service,” she said. “We carry out community health nursing outreach, educating people about the health preventative measure. This program is just one aspect of the university’s efforts to improve health care in rural communities around the university.”

The UCU Head of Nursing notes that the community nursing program’s strategic initiative is emphasizing preventive measures that not only have direct impact on rural areas, but also cultivate learning opportunities for students.

“With preventive measures at finger tips, this places people in the community at a privileged position of not suffering from communicable diseases, and other diseases resulting from poor sanitation are minimized,” she said. “Students are able to address critical issues encountered by health care professionals every day, from the prevention of disease to the delivery of care.”

She also noted that public awareness of symptoms of conditions and diseases (such as strokes) can help improve the speed of receiving medical help and increase the chances of a better recovery.

“On some occasions we encounter people who are sick with diabetes or blood pressure and live without knowing they are sick,” the head of nursing said. “This delays the chances of one seeking diagnosis from medical professionals. The untreated condition can advance and get worse. In these cases, the benefit of treating the disease promptly can greatly exceed the potential harm from unnecessary treatment.”

Residents are encouraged to go to government hospitals where they can access free medical services. Mulago hospital, for example, has free diabetic clinics.

John Bosco Ntambara, one nursing student, noted long-held cultural beliefs and practices keep people from seeking health care facilities. Often, they prefer traditional healers because they are better known and live nearby.

“That’s why they go for medical treatment late,” John said. “They first believe that they will get better. Some traditional healers will tell them that the payment arrangements will be made when they heal.”

However, the university head of nursing notes that one aspect of quality nurse service delivery is understanding culture and also getting to know what traditional healers offer to clients for easy clarification to community members.

“We don’t just talk,” she said. “We listen.”

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Community visits reinforce practical side of Ugandan health care

June 18, 2020COVID-19, Faculty of Public Health, Nursing and Midwifery, Students, UCU School of Medicine#CommunityService, #FamilyPlanning, #healthcare, #MedicalSchool, #Nolockdown, #Nurses, #students, #UgandaChristianUniversity, Mukono, Poverty, UgandaPartnersPatty Huston-Holm

UCU Nursing student Nankya Brenda Diana visits a village family

By Patty Huston-Holm

Four plastic cups of passion juice. Several crumbling, miniature queen cakes. Bananas. Two melting strawberry and vanilla ice cream cones – a relatively new treat on the Uganda Christian University (UCU) Mukono campus. Laughter.

For 15 of the university’s year-four nursing students, that’s how the ride in a burgundy and white bus in central Uganda’s scorching heat started.

Loosely called a “community visit,” this weekly trek supplements learning that takes place in classrooms and laboratories on the campus. The trips into remote villages enable students to see the practical side of health care in their final months before graduation. In years one, two and three, the book, lecture and Internet knowledge have been complemented with real-world experiences in hospitals and health centers.

Previous real-world experiences have included conversations with traditional healers and professionals dealing with mental illness and observing circumcision and critical care of accident and HIV/AIDS victims.

On this sunny, February 2020 pre-COVID-lockdown day, the student nurses and Elizabeth Nagudi Situma, UCU head of nursing in the School of Medicine, travel on bumpy, dirt-rutted roads 45 minutes away from the main campus. They serve and learn in village of Nakoba – an area too remote to be found on a map. With guidance by Situma, students listen, observe, record and advise two residences each at various locations within an approximate one-mile radius.

“I think it was more than worms,” student Nankya Brenda Diana said about one child’s protruding abdominal area. “When you push on the stomach, it feels like an organ or something out of place.”

Normally, she said, a child’s extended belly means intestinal worms. They contract them from uncooked food, walking barefooted among cattle feces or eating dirty mangoes. In her kit, she has mebendazole, a drug that she can provide to eliminate worms. The better resolution is prevention through proper sanitary practices. This time, however, Brenda is not so sure that the stomachs of a two-year-old and her four-year-old brother are filled with worms. She puts her suspicions in her report.

The mother, Helen, has six children, including two sets of twins. Giving birth to more than one child at a time is a much-esteemed blessing in Ugandan culture. In addition to discussion of hygiene related to chickens that roam freely in the family’s cooking and sleeping areas, a rudely constructed rain water pipe and lack of dedicated space for the household’s bathroom habits, Brenda is ready today to discuss family planning. Steven, the husband and father, is there to get advice, too.

Brenda, wearing a backpack and holding a clipboard, talks to the family in their Luganda mother tongue. Helen sits on a single stool, nursing the baby, as Steven and their other children, barefooted in torn and dirty clothes, lean against trees near their humble home. Across an unpaved, dirt road are more than 20 gravesites, signified by a few stones but mostly by rounded mounds of dirt.

Roughly a half mile away, John Damasen Ntwari has his second weekly meeting with Niyonsaba, a mother of seven who, along with her husband, escaped here from Burundi ethnic disputes in 2015. They are Tutsi who fear death still today from the richer, more powerful Hutu. In broken English, she explains that they want to go back someday. But the time is not yet right.

John Damasen Ntwari, president of the UCU Nursing Class of 2020, visits with a family in a remote village near Mukono.

“I am very happy to see John,” she says. She shares that her family is better off than most with two children enrolled in school. While her young daughter smiles broadly, Niyonsaba says her problems with allergies and a weak heart seem less than John’s last visit and the daughter has healed nicely from a vaginal repair.

John, who is president of the nursing class, scribbles notes as walking to his second site. There, 15-year-old Nabaweesi Zakiah emerges. As when John previously visited, she’s alone. Again, in clear English, she says her mother is away “just one day to visit a friend.” When she returns with school fees, Zakiah can return to school.

Situma emerges and deepens the questioning about what the girl eats, if she is alone, if she is afraid at night, and if anyone hurts her. She praises the surroundings that include a vanilla plant and trees plentiful with bananas and jackfruit. Zakiah carries a large knife to a tree, cuts down some matooke and carries it back to her small living quarters. A dog, kitten and chicken with babies scatter.

“It’s hard to know,” John said. “I’ve asked that her mom be here today, but she still isn’t. Maybe next time.”

For most of the UCU student nurses, including Brenda and John, the desire to work in health care stems from a young age when encountering a void in medical attention for a family member. In addition to this motivation, there is a government promise of a paid job for at least one year after graduation. They are placed around the country with a 750,000 UGX ($200) a month salary for 12 months.

Seat backs filled with ready-to-eat avocados. Fingers dipped into large, freshly opened shells of sweet jackfruit. Some laughter, but mostly vocalized thoughts about the conditions, causes and remedies for health maladies. That’s how a February six-hour day – but not professional careers – concluded.

“Ultimately, I want to work in cancer care,” John said. “But I’m prepared for anything.”

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Uganda Christian University launches master’s in midwifery program

February 26, 2020Faculty, Faculty of Public Health, Nursing and Midwifery, News, UCU School of Medicine#babydelivery, #BethelUniversity, #GeorgetownUniversity, #midwife, #UgandaChristianUniversity, Medical School, Nursing, UCUPartners, UgandaPatty Huston-Holm

UCU Nursing students Babirye Tamara Peace and Kakooza Abdul Wahabu practice a birth simulation with “Baby Nicole.”

Uganda Christian University (UCU) is launching a new program – a master’s course in midwifery and women’s health – under its School of Medicine. At the request of UCU Partners, Ugandan writer Constantine Odongo had a chat with Elizabeth Namukombe Ekong, a lecturer in the medical school’s nursing department. What follows is some of this conversation related to the new program.

What programs are under the department of nursing?
We have undergraduate and master’s programs in the department. In the Bachelor of Nursing Science, which began in 2006, we have two entry points – nurses with diploma, but want to get bachelors; and the direct entry right from S6 (high school graduation). The completion program takes three years for nurses already experienced, while the other entry takes four years. The master’s in nursing started in 2008. We are now introducing the master’s in midwifery and women’s health.

Students Kiribata Dorothy, Bagenda Isaac, and Mbulaka Remmy Allan with a practice plastic baby as part of their training in the UCU nursing program.

When does the new course start?
In 2017, the National Council for Higher Education (NCHE) approved our curriculum, but we have not had the personnel the NCHE insisted on. They insisted on staff with master’s degrees in midwifery, yet most of us have masters in nursing. We have been looking around for personnel. The challenge we have had is that in Uganda, only one university has been offering this course, so not many people have the skill set that NCHE required. The other challenge is many people who opt to pursue master’s degree studies are already established somewhere else. So, it is not for us to uproot them from their already set systems. There are some people who have expressed interest, so the university actually put up advertisements in January, calling for people to apply for the position of lecturer in midwifery. As this year (2020) is the Year of the Nurse and Midwife (designated by the World Health Assembly under the World Health Organization in honor of the 200^th anniversary of the birth of Florence Nightingale), it is appropriate that UCU starts the master’s in midwifery.

Which people are you working with to ensure that the program kicks off?
We are trying to put up a team as NCHE recommended. The other thing is we have partners who are professors with PhDs in midwifery and are willing to come and teach and also offer online interactions, since the program design is a modular one. We have two professors from the United States – one from Georgetown University in Washington, D.C., and another from Bethel University in Minnesota. They are ready to start the teaching in May, if we have set our intake to start and we have finally got the required number of students, the personnel and the clearance from NCHE. We are making arrangements for the professors to come and make the physical preparations. We expect the face-to-face teaching to happen three times a year.

Elizabeth Namukombe Ekong, nursing lecturer

Who helped you design the curriculum for the midwifery master’s course?
We developed it from a prototype curriculum that was designed from a program by the East, Central and South African College of Nursing (ECSACON). The ECSACON prototype is the same that many universities in the region use to develop their curriculum. We undertook a study to review the status of midwifery in the region and established that there was a need to provide a platform for the existing midwifery cadres to upgrade their skills at master’s level. When developing the curriculum, some of the areas the study looked at is the number of midwives in the country, the mortality rates, etc. From the ECSACON prototype curriculum, we developed ours for the master’s course, with assistance from colleagues in the UK. When we were satisfied that it was ready, we passed it through the approval process up to the university Senate and the NCHE. With the approval in 2017, it meant that the moment we get the relevant personnel with a master’s degree in midwifery, we would be ready to start.

What achievements has the nursing department registered?
We have developed skilled competent and dependable nurses with the passion and faith to render services across the continent, but also offer leadership. Our graduates have been absorbed in different institutions, both state and non-state and the feedback we get about their conduct is encouraging. We have had collaborations with facilities where we send our students for placement, like Uganda-China Friendship Hospital Naguru, the hospitals of Nsambya, Mulago, Butabika, Jinja referral and many others.

Some of our students are Assistant District Health Officers, and some are in charge of medical facilities and in other leadership positions in hospitals. Others are working at the Ministry of Health.

What is in the curriculum for the midwifery master’s program that you are soon launching?
The curriculum is designed with two tracks: Education and Practice as the program prepares educators and practitioners We have areas of midwifery education, which involves teaching and learning, curriculum development, measurement and evaluation; we also have an area on research and statistics. We have another area of midwifery leadership courses and management, so our students are able to graduate with better management and leadership skills.

There are foundation science courses like pathophysiology, pharmacology, and advanced health assessment in maternal and infant care. Other profession-based foundation courses offer an opportunity for the students to learn theories in nursing/midwifery, together with advanced courses in normal and abnormal midwifery. With other partner universities both here in Uganda and beyond, we share courses to do with cultural diversity, trends and issues in midwifery, neonatal and women’s health. Students also go for an international module (internship) to strengthen their teaching approaches and clinical experiences.

The students also take selected courses in advanced clinical practice from areas of their desired specialty in maternal and child health. Health care systems is another course taught to enable students understand the major elements, dynamics, determinants and organizational themes in public health, policy issues and health financing.

How have you taken care of the developments in information and communications technology as far as your course is concerned?
We intend not to leave our graduates behind as far as information and communications technology is concerned. We have lined up a course in informatics, which involves the application of technology in what they learn. We expect to take the students through online healthcare packages, how they can remotely follow up on patients and network with the online medical ecosystem in order to know a patient’s medical history and other things.

Many women, especially those in rural areas, still opt for traditional birth attendants (TBAs) to deliver them, citing harassment from midwives. What is your department doing to reverse this phenomenon?
We always emphasize professional ethics and Christian values in our students and that is why we have faith-based and foundation courses to see how virtues of the respect for one’s work is instilled and how the students ought to relate with their clients. In the midwifery curriculum, for instance, we have integrated Christian worldview to help students relate and handle our clients from a Christian perspective.

Why should we separate nursing from midwifery? Would it be better to equip the students with both skills, so the medical field gets multi-skilled professionals?
At UCU, the Bachelor of Nursing Science teaches concepts of both nursing and midwifery, just like the undergraduate course, which teaches medicine and surgery. The specialization occurs only at post-graduate level. That said, there are universities that offer bachelor’s degrees in midwifery. It’s also important to note the difference between the work of a midwife and a nurse. A midwife’s work involves care for women and families whereas a nurse is involved with the general health of everyone. Midwives focus on women, children, pregnant women, reproductive health issues and educating the community about the same.

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To support this Uganda Christian University program and others as well as students, activities and services, go to www.ugandapartners.org and click on the “donate” button, or contact UCU Partners Executive Director, Mark Bartels, at mtbartels@gmail.com.

‘Nursing is a calling from God’

February 21, 2020Faculty of Engineering, Design & Technology, Faculty of Public Health, Nursing and Midwifery, UCU Alumni#AnnetKabanyoro, #healthcare, #KampalaInternationalUniversity, #UgandaChristianUniversity, #wellness, Africa, Nursing, UCUPartnersPatty Huston-Holm

Annet Kabanyoro, UCU graduate working on her PhD in South Africa

Annet Kabanyoro is a doctoral student in healthcare at the University of South Africa. The dean of the School of Nursing at Kampala International University, she has risen through the ranks from enrolling in a certificate in nursing and kept on advancing, including with a master’s degree from Uganda Christian University (UCU). This is part of her story as told to UCU journalism student Esther Byoona.

What do students learn in a doctoral health science program?
There is an advanced level of learning. Communication and how you communicate are advanced. We do write ups, learn how to write, scientific writing, completing the thesis because you’re at that advanced level. Everything is advanced.

How does this level of health education improve healthcare in Uganda?
When you’re at an advanced level, you can influence policy in a positive direction, to make sure health service delivery is improved to make sure people do the right things. You ensure people are using evidence, evidence-based practice, research and published scientific information so when you’re at that level you are able to influence policy, read literature synthesize it, write in scientific journals and implement more.

Why do you care about healthcare in Uganda?
A population that is not healthy cannot advance. Without healthcare, more people would be sick all the time. People cannot go to work, go to business, and go to school. There is nothing that can go on. Health and care of it should be taken as a priority. When you are healthy, you could do many things including self-care, but sickness debilitates and some people can hardly care for themselves.

What does your career path in heath care look like?
I started at a low level in 1992. I was at the certificate level in nursing and I kept on advancing. I did a diploma, degree, a masters, now I am doing my PhD. I have done other courses like leadership and management and others. But I started at that lowest level so I’ve gone through all the levels of training in nursing since 1995. I assumed different roles ranging from being a bedside nurse in the clinical area to a nurse educator.

What do you love about the healthcare profession?
When you’re a health worker, and someone comes to you very sick, and they get better, you feel motivated. You feel happy, you feel great and sweet and you know that wow, you did your part. I love to see a patient who came when they were very sick and then improve and they are walking and smiling and thanking you. In education, when you see students on day one, you see they don’t know anything about the profession so you train them. They get to know what you do. Seeing students advance and get well socialized in the profession excites me.

What are the other benefits?
I get enumeration, and enumeration helps me take care of my family. My first born is a doctor. Though it can never be enough, we thank God we have food, housing, and clothes. I network with my colleagues professionally both locally and globally. I did a module in America.

What are your challenges?
Working in a resource constrained environment. Sometimes you want to do something but you don’t have the resources. I have to improvise all the time whether in clinical or education. You want to do a training and you cannot refuse them because it is their right but the resources are never enough. And culture can be a challenge.

Do you have any advice for those who may want to study healthcare?
They should understand nursing is a calling from God. You should deliver service above self. The nurses’ anthem spells it out. There is not much money earned from nursing. Professionalism is key.

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To support Uganda Christian University programs such as the ones in nursing as well as other programs, students, activities and services, go to www.ugandapartners.org and click on the “donate” button, or contact UCU Partners Executive Director, Mark Bartels, at m.t.bartels@ugandapartners.org.

Alumnus finds greener pasture in UCU as he gives back to the community

December 2, 2019Faculty of Engineering, Design & Technology, Faculty of Public Health, Nursing and Midwifery, News, UCU Alumni, UCU School of Medicine#Christ-CentredEducation, #DonateUganda, #GiveAfrica, #Hospital, #MasterOfNursing, #nightshift, #nurse, #student, #UgandaChristianUniversity, Nursing, Sponsorship, UCU, UgandaPatty Huston-Holm

Monday Edson (right) prepares to carry out a test on the UCU Vice Chancellor, Rev. Canon Dr. John Senyonyi, inside the new university ambulance while the Guild President, Bruce MugishaAmanya (in suit), looks on, shortly after the new university ambulance was brought.

By Olum Douglas

When Monday Edson joined Uganda Christian University (UCU) for his undergraduate studies in 2010, he did not see himself on the Mukono campus beyond getting his degree. Edson then had a diploma in nursing and worked at a specialized children’s neurosurgery center called Cure Children’s Hospital of Uganda. At Cure, he was the In-Charge for the Intensive Care Unit and Wards.

But when he graduated in 2013 and returned to his work place, he felt something was missing.

“I enjoyed the Christian components of life in UCU, especially the mission weeks, prayers and worship,” Edson said. “I could not wait for a chance to return to UCU because as you may know, our work requires a lot of spiritual enrichment. And UCU provides that working environment.”

Monday Edson carries out a check on a student at the Allan Galpin Health Centre. His education is supported by UCU Partners.

His love for the university was not only based on the spirituality but also the dream to pursue further studies and share his knowledge and skills with aspiring nurses, a thing he believed the university would grant him.

Indeed, his dream is coming true, thanks in part, to Uganda Christian University Partners financial assistance. Edson, now a final-year student of the Master of Nursing Science at UCU,says after exhausting his savings to sponsor himself for the first and second modules of the program, he was at the brink of dropping out until Partners stepped in. The sponsorship has saved him from worries and given him room to focus on his work and studies.

“Many times people think when they gain skills they should run away in order to find greener pastures, forgetting that there are even greener pastures where they are,” he said. “I have found mine in UCU and I want to work, study, teach and mentor future nurses from here.”

Since his return to the university in 2013 as a staff, Edson was appointed Head of Nurses at the university’s Allan Galpin Health Centre. His key roles include supervision of nurses. But it is common to find him in practice, attending to students and staff in need of health care. He also enjoys mentoring student nurses at the university as time permits. After his Master in Nursing Science, Edson desires to pursue a PhD in the same field to enable him venture into teaching.

“I feel that I have the calling to teach, but that does not mean I will quit practicing,” he said.“My aspiration is to see the theories we learn transmitted into practice. And that is what motivates me to mentor the students.”

Outside his prescribed tasks, Edson also chairs the university’s Inspection Committee, a subcommittee of the Health and Safety Committee. His committee inspects and ensures good hygiene and healthy practices at the university’s kitchen, dinning hall, canteens and halls of residence.

To his work mates, Edson is a humble, down-to-earth, team player who is very active in every activity that involves the university’s health center.

Kenneth Kiggundu, a Medical Records Clerk at the health center, says, “Edson is a very knowledgeable person in nursing procedures, yet very humble.” Rachael Nakamya Lule, the health center administrator also says, “Edson is very committed and easy to work with.”

Since his appointment as the head of nurses in 2013, Edson has pushed for several changes in health services at the facility. Such alterations include expanding service hours from 12 to 24 hours a day. The work shifts increased from two to three eight-hour shifts that include a night shift.

While he says human resource remains a great challenge at the facility as nurses must carry out nursing as well as dispensing duties that many times cause delays, Edson is happy that a lot has changed within the health center, and many more students are appreciating the services.

To Edson, his job is a fulfillment of Christ’s mission, and there is no greater satisfaction in it than a “thank you” note from a client.

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To support UCU students, programs and facilities, go to www.ugandapartners.org and click on the “donate” button, or contact UCU Partners Executive Director, Mark Bartels, at m.t.bartels@ugandapartners.org.

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UCU nursing graduates seek to fill gap in Ugandan mental health care

June 20, 2019Faculty of Public Health, Nursing and Midwifery, UCU School of MedicineButabika Hospital, Medical School, mental illness, Nursing, Uganda Christian UniversityPatty Huston-Holm

By Douglas Olum

When Conrad Ochola suffered depression in 2017, he heard a voice in his head.

He walked before his elder sister with whom he lived and threw off some of his clothes. The abnormal action shocked not only the sister but also the rest of the family. They were not aware that Ochola, then a new graduate of Uganda Christian University (UCU), had battled his mental state for some time. He hadn’t slept for months, with strange voices constantly screaming in his head. One of the voices persuaded him to throw himself in a pit latrine. He survived because the hole leading into the pit was too small to swallow him.

Through those months, Ochola, suffering in part due to the loss of his mother, lived in fear of death, saw things in twos and dodged meals because every time he ate, he would feel pain as though he was eating his own body parts. He never told anybody.

Butabika National Referral Hospital, in Kampala, Uganda, is the country’s only mental health facility.

It was when the 24-year-old stripped naked that the family came to realize that he indeed needed mental health care. They rushed him to Butabika National Referral Mental Hospital, where he was diagnosed with depression. After months of medication in this only such facility in Uganda, Ochola recovered.

Ochola, a marketing executive at a Uganda investment company called Xeno, is an example of how proper mental health assistance can make a positive difference.

Daniel Ojok, a high school graduate, wasn’t so fortunate. He crashed himself onto a speeding truck in December 2018 along the Gulu-Juba highway, days after dropping suicide hints that nobody got. The late Ojok is like millions of Ugandans who need mental healthcare but do not get it.

One mass example is in northern Uganda where thousands still suffer the traumatic consequences of the two-decade Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) insurgency, hundreds have committed suicide and more still continue to do.

A recent World Health Organisation (WHO) report indicates that at least 1.7 million Ugandans (about 4.6% of the total population) suffer from depressive disorders and another 3% suffer from anxiety. Depressive disorder is a condition characterized by sadness, loss of interest or pleasure, feelings of guilt or low self-worth, disturbed sleep or appetite, feelings of tiredness and poor concentration. Two years ago, the WHO ranked Uganda among the top six African countries heavily affected by mental health issues.

The Uganda Protestant Medical Bureau (UPMB), a charitable and technical national umbrella organization, reports that 98% of people with mental health issues in the country do not have access to care.

The problem is attributed to lack of community-based psychiatric care facilities, poverty that incapacitates many families from taking their mentally ill members for medication and the misconception that mentally ill people are connected to witchcraft, the latter often subjecting victims to rituals that, unfortunately,cause further harm to their mental states.

Butabika Hospital currently has up to 900 patients – double its capacity. A Butabika nurse who spoke on condition of anonymity said most times the extra patients are admitted because they have no where else to go.

Often, those afflicted with mental health issues roam the streets. Men and women dressed in rags, with dirty, twisted hair and many times carrying sacks of rubbish, stroll along streets of urban places across the country or seated in isolated places, mumbling junks of sentences.

Training institutions such as the Uganda Christian University aim to lessen the Butabika overload and the number of victims on the streets. The department of Nursing, for instance, is equipping student nurses with psychiatric nursing skills. Throughout their final semester of studies, students pursuing the Bachelor of Nursing Science, spend at least a day every week serving and learning at the Butabika Mental Hospital.

Mrs. Jemimah Mary Mutabazi, the head of the Department of Nursing at UCU, said as a department, they have been teaching mental health since the approval of their curriculum in 2006.

“It is part of curriculum because we want to equip our nurses with skills that enable them provide holistic care to their clients. Nurses work with people of different kinds including mentally ill patients and we want them to be able to handle all cases professionally,” Mutabazi said.

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For more of these stories and experiences by and about Uganda Christian University (UCU) programs, students and graduates, visit https://www.ugandapartners.org. If you would like to support UCU, contact Mark Bartels, Executive Director, UCU Partners, at m.t.bartels@ugandapartners.org or go to https://www.ugandapartners.org/donate/

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Erasing mental health stigma – one person at a time

June 12, 2019Faculty of Public Health, Nursing and MidwiferyHIV/AIDS, mental illness, UCU Partners, Uganda Christian UniversityPatty Huston-Holm

Counselors Irene Ojiambo and Joseph Musaalo at the UCU-Mukono campus (UCU Partners photo)

Note: This is the first of a two-part series focusing on mental illness in Uganda. Part I demonstrates how Uganda Christian University (UCU) deals with the problem. Part II will provide an example of a program making a difference outside of the UCU campuses.

By Patty Huston-Holm

For Irene Ojiambo, the desire to be a counselor came before she could speak the word. As a little girl, she saw people come into her house, crying and looking for her father, a priest. Instead, the distressed men and women got her mother who had them laughing on the way out. That, the young Irene knew, was the job she wanted.

For Joseph Musaalo, the call to counseling was progressive. The students he taught and the steady flow of needy children that his wife, Sarah, brought home found him increasingly wanting to do more. It was an 11-year-old female HIV/AIDS victim who showed up at his job with Compassion International who propelled him to action.

“We were shedding tears together,” Joseph recalled of that day and the pain that he and the girl both felt about the naming-calling she endured as well, for him, feelings of inadequacy to help. “I knew I didn’t want to feel that helpless again.”

So it was that Irene, who aspired to “make people laugh” and Joseph, who sought to stop the tears, became counselors. Their offices slope down among the trees between the Uganda Christian University (UCU) medical building and the Noll classrooms on the Mukono/main campus. UCU has counselors at all five of its locations.

The first UCU counseling office opened in 2005 – eight years after the university was founded. A pastor was hired to do the job. In 2008, Joseph came on board, seeing UCU students and staff in a small room that was part of the Allan Galpin Medical Center.

“I immediately started making a case for locating the counselor services in a place that would provide more respect,” Joseph, now head of UCU counseling services, said. “There was – still is – a stigma about people seeking help for emotional problems. Some people say they are ‘mad’.”

Today, Irene, who came to UCU four years ago, and Joseph, at UCU more than a decade, offer counseling services in a building that was once a family home. They each see about five people a day or 50 total a week – usually by appointment and most often young females. They hold large meetings in a structure that used to house a resident’s car. A white tent for the twice-a-year para-counseling workshops is nearby.

“Counseling is about empowerment and not advice,” according to Joseph, known as “Uncle Joe” for his regular column in the university’s student newspaper, The Standard. “We listen, give coping solutions and empower people to make decisions, hopefully beyond a one-time crisis.”

Friends and family members give advice that may or may not be the best and could resolve a short-term problem related to bullying, abuse, diet, study habits, drugs and money. Counselors strive to enable individuals to not only resolve a single issue but to have to have the tools to avoid re-occurrence.

Mental health is less understood in developing countries like Uganda, according to Joseph. Butabika Hospital, founded in 1955 in Uganda’s capital, Kampala, is the mental health national referral hospital for the entire country’s population of more than 40 million. One source notes that 98% of Ugandans with mental health issues have no place to receive services.

The UCU counselors are doing their best to fill that void for students and staff. The overriding issues of fear, anxiety, self esteem and depression are connected to such conditions as drug and alcohol use and abuse, HIV/AIDS and financial deficiency and pressure toward extra-marital and pre-marital sex and academic cheating.

The counselors, along with Richard Bwire, their administrative assistant, know the clients they see barely touch the surface of the campus need. In addition to the negative stigma with asking for help is the requirement that students and staff come to the counselors and not the other way around.

“They have to come to us,” Joseph said. “We know there are many out there who feel isolated with a problem, but they need to take the first step and ask for help.”

One way to help meet the need that is too large for counselors is staff and student training. Since 2008, there have been 2,073 students and 396 faculty and staff receiving UCU para-counseling training to help themselves and others around them. Topics include self-awareness, and anger, stress and financial management as well as basic information about frequent mental and physical topics that a trained counselor addresses. There are some conditions – such as Post Traumatic Stress Disorder common to those coming from war-torn areas – that only a certified counselor should handle.

“We are a Christian university and we are Christians, but we always follow the path of the client first; we unwrap the problem,” Irene said. “Some people we see have been hurt by people professing to be Christians.”

One client, one workshop at a time, Uganda’s trained counselors “must change the way of thinking that somehow mental illnesses are less serious than physical ones,” according to Joseph. “And we need to realize that we all have some level and some moments of mental incapacity, but when they become large, we need help.”

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To learn more about the UCU, go to http://ucu.ac.ug/. To support UCU, go to www.ugandapartners.org and click on the “donate” button. or contact UCU Partners Executive Director, Mark Bartels, at mtbartels@gmail.com.

UCU nursing students are blessing to government hospitals

May 23, 2019Faculty of Public Health, Nursing and Midwifery, UCU School of Medicinehospitals, Medicine, Nursing, Uganda Christian University, Uganda PartnersPatty Huston-Holm

UCU student mixes drugs before administering it to a patient at Naguru Hospital while students, nurses and lecturers look on.

By Douglas Olum

When Ruth Nakanwagi woke up the morning of Wednesday, March 13, her two-year-old son, Rogers, was shaking with fever at a very high temperature and vomiting. She knew that the child needed emergency healthcare. But she did not have enough money to rush him to a private clinic where she expected faster treatment.

Nakanwagi, a fruit vendor in Nakawa, a Kampala city suburb, painfully took her child to Naguru Referral Hospital, a government facility located about six kilometers (3.7 miles) east of the city centre, with little hope that the child would get medication in time.

A UCU student administers medicine to a patient in the Medical Ward at Naguru Hospital while a Senior Nurse looks on.

“I tried to borrow money from my neighbors and friends so that I could take the child to a clinic but I failed. I didn’t want to bring him here because I thought I would find a long line and reluctant workers who would not quickly attend to the child but I was surprised by how they attended to him so fast,” Nakanwagi said, smiling vaguely.

The hospital, housed in two, long, double-stair buildings, indeed had patients lined up on benches, both at the children’s and adult sides of the Outpatient Department (OPD), waiting to be served. Others were at various locations, awaiting other medical procedures such as X-rays, CT scans or antenatal check-ups.

Those already served were either exiting the gate or seeking refuge from the scorching sunshine under trees in the hospital compound. And Nakanwagi and her son were part of those leaving, just about two hours after their arrival time.

Rogers was diagnosed with malaria, one of the leading killer diseases in Uganda. And their shocking good experience was because that morning, second-year Bachelor of Nursing Science students from Uganda Christian University (UCU) were at the same hospital for their practical training. The students had quickly assessed the child’s condition and facilitated the treatment processes.

Across the OPD, Children’s, Medical, Antenatal and Surgical Wards, the students, donned in white coats with the UCU logo printed on the upper left, were taking history, counseling and administering drugs to patients. Others were in the theatre, helping with surgical processes.

Human resource shortage remains a huge challenge in Uganda’s government hospitals. With a nurse-to-patient ratio of 1:11,000 (International Council of Nurses, 2013 report), the situation is further worsened by absenteeism and negative attitude towards work among the personnel who are poorly paid. Consequently, Ugandans who can afford it, turn to private healthcare service providers who charge them exorbitantly.

But with the interventions by trainees from UCU, the story is changing in some government hospitals like Naguru.

Aidah Balamaga Nabiryo, a Senior Nursing Officer in charge of the Medical Ward at Naguru Hospital, said while the number of patients often overwhelms them, the learning visits by the UCU nursing students come as a blessing to them because they not only reduce their workloads but also speed up their service delivery.

“We have a big human resource gap here.” Nabiryo said. “For instance, in the whole of this Medical Ward, we are only two established staff members and we get overwhelmed by the tasks. But when these students come, they relieve us because they are very hardworking and also very good in nursing processes like injections, psycho-social support, cleaning of patients and identifying those in need.”

She said unlike students from other universities and nursing schools that go for similar trainings when they don’t know what to do, UCU students are very well prepared and they know exactly what to do under nearly every circumstance.

“When they don’t know something, they inquire and shortly afterwards, you find them doing it very well. Apart from their medical skills, we even tap into their computer skills that help us in report writing and presentations,” Nabiryo added.

Every week, different groups of the students are taken for practical trainings for at least four out of the five working days in various government hospitals including Naguru, Kawolo and Butabika Mental Hospital. They participate in collaborative health care service provision with the hospital personnel and their lecturers.

During those processes, they are exposed to medical, surgical and child health care procedures.

Irene Nagadya, one of their lecturers, said such exposures help the students integrate the theories they learn in class with practical application in the field.

“We show them how to do and also allow them practice investigations, insertion of tubes and other basic and specific nursing care skills. Through these, we are build professionalism that will result into competent health workers,” Nagadya said.

While such hospitals are just training grounds for the students, their services cannot be taken for granted considering the huge gaps that they fill. It is therefore, no doubt that their release into the health sector will not only save many lives like Rogers’, but also speed-up and improve the quality of service delivery in Uganda’s hospitals.

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If you are interested in supporting UCU school of nursing students and their training or other programs and services at UCU, contact UCU Partners’ Executive Director Mark Bartels at mtbartels@gmail.com, or click on the Donate button on the Partners Web site.

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