Maternal and child health
Nine million children under age 5 will die because of malnutrition, poor health care, and inadequate sanitation. With proper services and trained birthing professionals, maternal deaths at childbirth could be reduced by 80 percent. Rotary’s maternal and child health projects help educate mothers, provide health services such as immunizations, and give babies a better start in life.
Making health care more sustainable
Children in Uganda now have a fighting chance to survive and a community has better trained medical professionals following a visit by a medical mission that was supported by Rotary clubs in the United States and East Africa and a Rotary Foundation Global Grant. A 12-member vocational training team, made up of doctors from Riley Hospital for Children in Indianapolis, Indiana, USA, performed life-saving procedures and shared their skills with their counterparts at the Uganda Heart Institute at Mulago Hospital in Kampala.
“We taught the physicians, nurses, and operating room staff not only surgical and operating room techniques, but postoperative medical care for children with congenital heart defects,” says Dr. Stephanie Kinnaman, team leader and a member of the Rotary Club of Greenfield, Indiana, USA. In Uganda, the Rotary Club of Makindye aided the team’s work by transporting members to and from the hospital, providing meals, and assisting with other needs.
The mission was part of a long-term effort launched by the Gift of Life Foundation with support from Rotary clubs in 2008 that will continue until 2014, when it will be turned over to the Uganda Heart Institute.
Salim Najjar, a Rotary leader who accompanied the team, praised their talent and dedication. “I saw another dimension of our Rotary contributions at work in saving young lives.”