Holy Innocents Children’s Hospital in Uganda Fights the Scourge of Malaria
By Ann Aubrey Hanson
[edited and reprinted with permission of the The Southern Cross]
SAN DIEGO -- Malaria is the number one killer of children in Uganda. A parasitic disease transmitted by mosquitoes, it is easily prevented and inexpensive to treat if caught early. But because of a lack of facilities, resources and training, malaria is Africa’s leading cause of death for children under 5 years old. One child in 20 dies from this disease in Africa.
“In our region, the Archdiocese of Mbarara,” said Father Bonaventure Turyomumazima, a priest of Mbarara currently visiting San Diego, “we lose 17,000 children to malaria every year. Of these, 10,000 are aged between 0 and 5 years old, the rest between 6 and 12. You can see that the number of children who are at risk is much greater than the number of adults.”
The infants are at greatest risk, said Father Bonaventure, “because when a mosquito bites them, they don’t have a way to tell their parents that they have been bitten and that they are sick. The sickness progresses up to almost the last steps by the time the parents take the child to the hospital.”
These numbers will drop drastically with mosquito netting, education and prompt medical care. Bringing these basics to his people has been the dream of Archbishop Paul Bakyenga since his ordination.
Harold “Tom” Thomas made a promise to Archbishop Bakyenga to help bring that dream to fruition. In early 2007, Thomas, along with Lane Freestone, both parishioners at San Rafael Church, formed a non-profit organization called Holy Innocents Children’s Malaria Hospital Uganda. Its mission is to fund a dedicated malaria hospital for all of the children of Mbarara Province and greater Uganda.
“This will be the first hospital in the nation specifically for children, and for the treatment of malaria,” said Father Bonaventure. “This vision is absolutely the vision of our archbishop. His first gift as archbishop was to helping children, with education and medicine. He has always dreamed of starting a children’s hospital.” |
Thomas, a retired businessman, worked for 26 of his 36 years with IBM in third-world countries.
“I used to die over the suffering I would see in the villages, unbelievable suffering,” said Thomas. “It tears you right up.” So, helping with Archbishop Bakyenga’s dream was a natural.
Holy Innocents includes business people, medical professionals and clergy in the United States working with a capable team of doctors, nurses, clergy and other professionals in Uganda. The Ugandan team is managed by the Catholic Diocese of Mbarara, which has an established track record designing, building, and operating hospitals and clinics. Holy Innocents has formed alliances with the University of San Diego School of Nursing and with Modern Microwave, a medical equipment supplier.
Thomas is chairman of the organization, with Lane Freestone vice chairman. There are no paid positions; all board members and participants are volunteers.
In the months since its inception, Holy Innocents has already delivered a first shipment of medicine to Mbarara and raised funds to send 1,000 mosquito nets to Mbarara. They hope to deliver 150,000 nets within three years.
The cost of each treatment is 45 cents for a child. Each child averages 5.5 treatments per year, for a total cost of $2.48 per year per child. The cost to purchase, deliver and train families to use highly effective insecticide-treated mosquito netting is only $10.00 per net. |
Mbarara Diocese has already donated the building site for the children’s malaria hospital. Now the Holy Innocents Foundation is seeking $500,000 to build and equip the first wing of the new hospital. They will break ground on the first medical building in January 2008 and will accept the first patients in June 2008. The first module will house 40 beds.
It will take, estimates Thomas, two to three months to get the staff ready once the building is completed. Training will begin in April 2008. In Uganda, companies must provide living space for employees and feed them. The employee dormitory will be built at the same time as the medical building. The Archdiocese of Mbarara will provide board for the staff.
Their long-term goals include: reducing malaria death for children ages 0-5 years old by 70 percent, saving 35,000 lives in five years; expanding to a full children’s hospital in two years; educating the people of Mbarara in methods of sanitation, malaria prevention, nutrition and pre-natal health; facilitating clean water and sewerage. Total cost, an estimated $2.5 million, including construction costs, equipment and medical supplies.
“It’s a giant beautiful project,” says Thomas, “it really is.”
Holy Innocents plans to make the hospital operationally self-sustaining from the start. Those who come to the hospital will be asked to pay a fee “that would help keep the hospital maintained but not for profit-making,” said Father Bonaventure. If destitute patients cannot pay, they will receive treatment for free, with fees drawn from a fund set up for such instances.
If they succeed in this endeavor, Holy Innocents plans to replicate the program in neighboring provinces in three years.
“This is a miracle project,” said Father Bonaventure. “Miracles don’t just happen. God has used Tom, Lane and the others as his tools to make this miracle happen.”
For information about Holy Innocents Uganda,
visit, www.holyinnocentsuganda.org. |
