Grant to Minnesota International Health Volunteers (MIHV) to assist Makerere University in Uganda to improve the maternal/child health care services which the Kasangati Health Center provides to 36 surrounding villages. MIHV will provide training/TA to Makerere University to help decentralize health care from the clinic to the village level by training village health workers (VHW”s). With a VHW system in place, the health center will have a stronger capacity to provide child survival services, including immunizations, nutrition interventions, child spacing counseling, ante and post natal care, and a young child clinic. The project will also help develop local support systems that will identify and address stress factors in the area, and hence reduce the incidence of maternal depression. MIHV will help Makerere University use this experience as a teaching and research model of primary health care in a developing country rural setting. Goals of the program are to: (1) immunize 80% of children 0-5 and (2) reduce the incidence of (a) malnutrition of young children by 25% per year, (b) infant mortality by 25% per year, (c) anemia and venereal disease by 50%, (d) attacks of lab-confirmed malaria in children and pregnant or nursing mothers by 50%, (e) severe diarrhea by 25%, and (f) parasitic infestations and upper respiratory infections by a significant percentage. The project”s target group is an estimated 9,600 children 0-5 and mothers of child bearing age (50% of the local population).
