UBF Medical mission team Europe met on November 21st 2009 in Bonn UBF. Our main topic was to prepare for the mission journey to Uganda, which will take place February 14th-21st 2010. We will join medical mission teams from Korea and USA in order to support the region of Lyantonde with medical help.

Not only health professionals, but all kind of coworkers are invited to join the journey team, because there is also a lot of work to do that does not require medical skills. We will visit Lyantonde, which is a rural region of Uganda where there is almost no medical care available. Because we do not know the working conditions we will find there, we should be prepared to serve through all kinds of work.

For further information send a mail to Sh. Ulrike Gross from Cologne (Ulrike.gross@gmx.net).

Information about health system and common health problems in Uganda

Uganda is located in central/east Africa right north of Lake Victoria near the equator. Most of the country is about 1000 meters high, and the climate is warm (not hot) all year with moderate humidity.

The mortality of children under 5 years of age is very high, about 10 times as high as in western countries. Mortality is caused mostly by infectious diseases and malnutrition, which is due to a lack of basic health and nutrition information and not so much due to a lack of food.

The three main health problems in Uganda are HIV/AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis. There are some regions in Uganda where there are about 20% of the population infected with HIV.

The health system of Uganda is on a very low standard. This is caused by a lack of responsibility of health professionals. They try to get their own benefit from medical resources instead of serving the sick and needy people. Health professionals also often don’t have proper medical knowledge. Because of all this, rich people in Uganda go abroad to get medical help.

Information about vaccination and malaria prophylaxis

Vaccination against yellow fever is not officially required, but very strongly recommended.

Before travelling to Uganda, checkup of basic vaccinations like diphterie, pertussis, tetanus, measles, rubeola, polio and parotitis epidemica is recommendable. Because of the tropical climate, also vaccination against hemophilus influenza, hepatitis A and B, typhus, menigococci and rabies should be considered.

Against HIV there is no vaccination so far. Therefore it is important to strongly avoid direct contact to blood of patients, e.g. to wear examination gloves.

Malaria prophylaxis is recommended. Malarone, Lariam and Doxycyclin can be used. Malarone is very expensive, but has the least side effects. Lariam can cause a reversible psychosis. Doxycycline is cheap but there are regions in Uganda where Malaria plasmodia may be resistant against this medicament.

To avoid moscito bites that carry malaria it is recommended to wear long-sleeved shirts and pants after sunset and to use a repellent and sleep always under a moscito net. Because sometimes moscito nets in hotels are not tight any more, it is better to bring your own moscito net.

Report on the Bethesda Mission Hospital building project

As far as we know from letters from M. Luke Lim, Bethesda mission hospital was planned to be a five store building with a parking lot in the cellar and the clinic and the UBF center in the first floor. However, because Dr. Joseph Chung and more coworkers will join Bethesda Mission team very soon, these plans were changed and now the whole fist floor is planned to serve as clinic rooms. The second floor will be used as UBF center and guest house, and the floors above will be a youth hostel. So far, the concrete walls of the first floor are ready and the walls of the second floor are under construction. Originally they wanted to finish the outside walls of the whole building and than continue to prepare the rooms inside. But now they changed plans and want to get the first and second floor completely ready first and than continue with the other floors above. That means that in February 2010 the first and second floor will be ready with the help of God.

Purchase of an autoclave for Bethesda mission clinic

With the help of God, a small used autoclave could be purchased from ebay. This is a medical device to sterilize medical instruments. The autoclave was in use in an outpatient clinic before. Due to new hygiene standards in Germany, these small autoclaves are not allowed in Germany any more. The autoclave seems to be o.k., but has to be tested more thoroughly. It weights about 35 kg and has the size of two microwaves. We pray to purchase also some sterilization boxes. The autoclave will be brought to Uganda with the mission journey team in February 2010. We pray that this device may be helpful to minimize the risk of transmitting HIV and other infectious diseases. We pray that God allows us to bring the autoclave to Uganda without any difficulties with the airline or with the customs.