Tibahenda, 25 years lives in a village of Karangara, about 5 hour walk from Bwindi Community Hospital. It was not yet her due date and was not expecting labor to start when she started feeling labor-like pain. Her pregnancy was only seven months old. As the pains increased she realized labor had begun! It was not easy for her to believe as she was not prepared in any way for the baby and not even appropriate means of transport were readily available. So she hoped she could make it at home but in vain. The baby had come with the buttocks first.
When she finally made it to hospital, she was exhausted but was quickly helped to deliver her baby. The baby was tired too and could not maintain normal temperature on its own. Breathing was equally difficult. He could only gasp.
Dr. Leonard, a pediatrician heading the Child Health department took over from the midwives and after two hours of maneuvering, including inserting a tube into the trachea to suction excessive mucous and assisted breathing with oxygen, the baby still could not afford breathing on its own. The baby was put in an incubator to maintain optimum warmth, given antibiotics, glucose and vitamin K and maintained on oxygen while closely monitored. Eventually, there was a ray of hope. Everyone was delighted to see the baby start breathing on its own with no difficulty. “The airway has cleared, it is a good sign.” Dr. Leonard, a pediatrician at the hospital said with a sigh of relief.
Bwindi Community hospital has saved many children like that of Tibahenda who for no reason need not to die helplessly. The hospital has developed an excellent specialist unit for sick newborn babies. Many thanks to TOUCH Uganda, Dr. Stark and his wife Laurie Hodian who contributed to the purchase of the incubators. Our neonatal unit is the only unit for a population of 300,000 people in the whole district of Kanungu. 91.1% of newborn babies admitted to our neonatal unit survive. This is a fantastic survival rate, and is a brilliant testimony to our nurses who work around the clock caring for these special patients. With more training and equipment, we hope to do more improving survival of these children.
Each month we see more than 500 children in our Outpatient department and we admit more than 100 to the ward. The leading health problems are respiratory infections, malaria, diarrheal diseases and malnutrition. Our ward is probably the nicest children's ward in all of Uganda, with brightly coloured paintings on the wall and a fun environment for children to play and learn in as they recover.
Outside the ward is a children's play area, a kitchen and a demonstration garden where mothers (and occasionally fathers) can learn skills that they take home about how to grow and cook a balanced diet for their children. The ward staff organizes practical cooking sessions with the mothers of the admitted children every week. These are always preceded by singing and dancing. Children who were previously admitted with severe malnutrition are followed-up to see if their nutritional status is improving.
Specialist clinics are held each week for children with long-term diseases. We have collaborations with health organizations like Organization Useful Rehabilitation Service (OURS) and Comprehensive Rehabilitation Services in Uganda (CoRSU) that offer additional services for children such as physical rehabilitation and repair of congenital defects.
How you can Help
Bwindi's child health services get support from Sustain for Life, a charity in the UK and TOUCH Uganda in the United States but there is a lot more that we can do. Adding the money spent on staff, drugs, electricity and other supplies it costs about $30 a day to keep a child in Hospital. The average family in Bwindi lives on about $1 a day and has seven children. They do contribute a small amount, but the local community cannot afford the full costs of care. The average child with malnutrition stays for more than two weeks, and the total cost of providing all of our child health services is $130,000 a year. Any contribution, however large or small, will go directly to helping those most in need.
