Healthcare Promotion Services
Maternal, Child Health and Nutrition (MCHN)
The current maternal mortality ratio in Uganda is 336 maternal deaths per 100,000 live births. Infant mortality is 43 deaths per 1000 live births, with 42% of the mortality occurring during the neonatal period. This is related to a weak health system in the country. KHIDNET ensures that maternal and child health is improved drastically with the end goal of bringing maternal and child deaths to single digits. KHIDNET is trying to achieve this through the following;
- Increase the uptake of ANC services by encouraging pregnant women to make at least 4 ANC visits before delivery. This is done through mobile sms campaigns to the pregnant mothers, through local leaders and through community Village health teams.
- Mobilize and advocate for improvement in ANC services at health facilities by collaborating with all relevant stakeholders and also working with Health Systems Structures.
- Working with government health facility management and conducting outreach campaigns, we mobilize men to embrace maternal and child health programs by supporting their wives during pregnancy, child birth and postnatal periods for attainment of positive outcomes.
- Train and support pregnant mothers to ensure that they are aware of the new born danger signs and be able to react accordingly and timely to save the infants lives.
- Pregnant women and their spouses are also reached with messages on proper or recommended feeding and nutrition before, during pregnancy and after child birth to increase survival and proper growth of the child.
- We are also engaged into research undertakings on salient issues affecting maternal and child health such that the results inform our strategies for addressing maternal and child health problems.
- Working and developing an advocacy handbook to help us in the influencing policies at both national and local levels.
Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights (SRHR)
Sexual and reproductive health is a lifetime concern for both women and men, from infancy to old age. Evidence shows that reproductive health in any of these life stages has a profound effect on one’s health later in life. improving sexual and reproductive health is a key effort towards achieving Sustainable Development Goal 3, which calls for good health and well-being. It also advances Goal 5, which calls for gender equality, as well as many of the other goals included in the 2030 Agenda.
Good sexual and reproductive health is a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being in all matters relating to the reproductive system. It implies that people are able to have a satisfying and safe sex life, the capability to reproduce and the freedom to decide if, when, and how often to do so. To maintain one’s sexual and reproductive health, people need access to accurate information and the safe, effective, affordable and acceptable contraception method of their choice. They must be informed and empowered to protect themselves from sexually transmitted infections. And when they decide to have children, women must have access to skilled health care providers and services that can help them have a fit pregnancy, safe birth and healthy baby. Every individual has the right to make their own choices about their sexual and reproductive health. UNFPA, together with a wide range of partners, works toward the goal of universal access to sexual and reproductive health and rights, including family planning.
KHIDNET targets young boys and girls and young women to access affordable sexual reproductive services through;
- Raising awareness on sexual and reproductive health to the target populations in various activities such as sexual education, promoting sexual and reproductive health rights particularly for girls and women and promoting affordable access to sexual & reproductive health information, products & services.
- We also try to educate the adolescents and do other activities that promote sexual wellness in a bid to reduce the spread of HIV and other sexually transmitted diseases.
- We work with schools as we believe that introducing such sexual and reproductive health issues at an early age of these young children, then the message will be taken on to inform their sexual behaviors and decisions as they grow.
- Collaboration with MOH and other service providers for health systems strengthening, advocacy for specialized sexual and reproductive health services, use of youth friendly corners and digitalization of some of the sexual and reproductive health services.
Interventions for Non-Communicable Diseases
Non communicable diseases of recent have increasingly become a threat to mankind, with their mortality statistics worrying day by day. The leading among these diseases has been cancer which has continued to claim many lives worldwide and Uganda in particular with others like hypertension, diabetes, sickle cell disease also adding to the misery.
As KHIDNET, we realize through the following;
- Mobilizing people of all ages through awareness programs to get involved in regular exercises
- Stop or minimize smoking and alcohol consumption
- Check their feeding habits by working on their diet and taking healthy foods. Advocate for cleaner environments that are free from carbon emissions by practicing environment friendly activities.
STD/HIV/AIDS Prevention and management
KHIDNET-Uganda aligns its HIV prevention strategy to these global targets in order to respond to current gaps in HIV prevention interventions and scale up coverage and utilization of critical HIV prevention interventions to reduce new HIV infections, reduction in multiple sexual partners and targeted primary HIV prevention approaches for key and priority populations who are major drivers of the HIV epidemic.
KHIDNET-Uganda is doing the following; HIV Testing Services (HTS), Voluntary Counseling and Testing (VCT), HIV Counseling and Testing (HCT), Home Based HIV Counseling and Testing (HBHCT). Linking the clients for care and treatment among others are the activities done under HIV/AIDS prevention.,br> These are done through outreaches, mobile clinics, moonlight clinics, at the facility level using a ray of community health volunteers in the community. Targets of the HIV services include the following; Never tested, have not had HIV test in the past 12 or more months, History of weight loss, Sickly clients, STI current or past history, Sex worker and men who have sex with Men, HIV negative partner in discordant couple, Partners of sex workers and men who have sex with men, Sexual and Gender Based Violence (rape and defilement) etc.