Jalia Nassolo, 32 – a resident of Kiyunga in the Luuka District of Uganda – had a complicated pre-term birth delivery. At 37 weeks of pregnancy, Jalia started to experience labor pains, which quickly increased in frequency and severity. Concerned, she sought…
Forty-five-year-old Ikoba Ssuba felt unwell with a fever. He visited Iganga General Hospital and received a thorough health check-up. As he waited to see the clinician, he had the opportunity to hear Betty Atyama, a counselor in the hospital’s outpatient department (OPD)…
Three years ago, twenty-six year-old Leah Okumu was diagnosed with HIV and initiated on antiretroviral treatment (ART). Leah now lives with her husband, son, and daughter in the Dabani subcounty of Busia District in East Central Uganda, where she receives HIV treatment…
Dorothy Mugyeni (not her real name to protect her privacy), 31, is a private school teacher from Jinja District living with HIV. She discovered she was HIV positive in 2014 during her first pregnancy while at an antenatal care visit to Magamaga…
Immaculate Aparo, 24, is a first-year student of public administration at Gulu University in Uganda and a business owner who sells secondhand shoes, dresses, and other goods. She also is a family planning parish coordinator in Akokulum, Gulu District, in the Determined…
Gender-based violence (GBV) is gaining more attention globally as a shadow pandemic of COVID-19 – one exacerbated by pandemic-related stressors. Stay-at-home measures have increased the risk to GBV victims, who – while remaining at home with their perpetrators – are further isolated,…
Today, Irene Adong is not only a proud mother, but also a proud business owner who operates her own shop. She is also a youth community-based distribution agent (YCBDA) in the Agago District of Uganda. As a YCBDA, Adong has counseled many…
World Mental Health Day was recently observed on October 10. Since 1992, the day has been observed to call attention to mental health needs around the world. As a licensed clinical psychologist, I’ve worked in global health for more than 15 years,…
In April 2020, Taabu Risper, 49, took her sick son Emmanuel, 17, to Banda Health Centre III (HCIII) in Namayingo District, where he was clinically diagnosed with a bacterial infection. The clinician prescribed drugs to treat the infection and allowed him to…
Jaliah Nantabo, 28, mother of two, lives with her mother, sister, and three other children in Bujagaali Village in the Jinja District of East Central Uganda. Her homestead has a banana plantation at its lower side with scattered vegetable gardens she planted…