Optimizing Health for At-Risk Kids

By the end of January, 91 primary and secondary children in Kyotera and 62 in Kampala and Mukono received a professional health check-up conducted by Children of Uganda’s medical partners, Premier Health Services Ssanje Medical Center and Alive Medical Clinic. Our newest recruits and other identified students also received visual testing at Fairez Optics in Kampala City, as well as audio screenings.

One student named Joan was confirmed to be severely short-sighted, which likely explains why she was underperforming in school. The optician recommended eye glasses and our staff is working with her guardian to ensure that she gets the necessary lenses.

All 24 children who were recruited for this academic year were also tested for Hepatitis B and duly vaccinated. There were no positive cases identified.

In addition to routine medical exams and screenings, we also do our best to respond to urgent and ongoing health needs. For example, one of our vocational students recently developed chicken pox and his family could not afford treatment. He came to our office in extremely poor health and was rushed to the hospital. COU was able to cover his transport thanks to our Antonia’s Angels Emergency Health Fund. Please contact us at (800) 531-9612 for more information on how you can help save lives.

Moreover, 7 children were identified as underweight over the holidays and received supplemental nutrition to boost their health. COU’s project officer and assistant delivered food and cooking supplies to their homes and instructed guardians on how to administer meals. For perishables (such as bread, bananas, and watermelons), our staff contacted vendors near the beneficiaries’ homes and arranged for the children to simply go to their stall and pick-up the food items weekly.

The children were weighed before the intervention at the beginning of the holiday in December and then again before school started in February. Overall, each child gained between 2.2 – 11 pounds. We are planning to continue with the same special feeding arrangement for the underweight children while in school until they reach a healthy weight.

Again, please contact us if you would like to learn more about our medical outreach initiatives and ways you can help our children grow up healthy and strong!