With Uganda now in full Coronavirus lockdown, Child of Hope has temporarily stopped all its services including nutrition and health care.
Since the school closures, until now, school nurse Stella and her assistants Prosy and Dianah had continued to see sick children daily at the school’s sick bay. They dealt with cases of malaria, typhoid and bacterial infections. They also continued raising awareness in the community (where there are no other health workers) about the Corona pandemic and encouraging people to implement the precautions indicated by the Government.
Staff were also caring for at-risk children; they identified 25 children in poor health and risk of malnutrition. These children were being provided with the usual meal of posho, beans and vegetables and given multivitamins – suitably spaced apart (see picture)! However all these service have now had to stop for the time being.
There is now a curfew from 7pm each night until daylight the next morning, and the use of all private vehicles is banned (only cargo vehicles are allowed to move).
To move a sick or injured person to hospital, the district commissioner must be contacted for approval. All non-food shops and businesses are closed except for essential services such as supermarkets, pharmacies, agricultural supplies and funeral services. Factories etc can only continue if they house their workers on site, as no-one should travel between work and home. After two weeks the Ministry of Health will evaluate progress.