Residents of Bamunanika struggle to access basic health facilities

The area of Bamunanika county in Luwero district nearest to Kiziba is so remote that women struggle to access basic health facilities for themselves and their children.

Kayonza, the only village in Bamunanika county, does not have a fully functional health facility, even though the county’s health center III is located at Kibengo, just three kilometres away.

According to the Uganda Government Health Policy report manual, a health center III, is supposed to be situated in a sub-county and should provide all services provided in health centre II, in-patient care and environmental health.

This is not the case with Kibengo health centre III in Luwero district. In this facility, there are only two full time staff, instead of the, “One clinical officer, an enrolled nurse, two enrolled midwives, nursing assistant, health assistant, laboratory assistant and a records officer” recommended by the Ministry of Health.

Namubiru Harriet, a mother of three children, said: “There is no ambulance. No nearby surgical facility to offer caesarean sections and when a women is critical in labour pains, she has to hire a motorcycle (known locally as boda-boda) to transport her to the nearby health centre IV located in Wabusaana. Even then, one will be lucky to get the desired services expected.”

Community members note that the nationally advertised community health outreach programmes do not reach them. There are no regular immunization schedules in the area, and one would be lucky to come across a Voluntary Counselling and Testing for HIV/AIDS service.

In addition to these challenges, people in Kayonza have poor family planning practices; seen from the high number of children close in age who do not go to school and loiter in the villages. The government-funded schools are far away, and one gentleman says they need a nursery school.

In addition, there are low levels of education among adults, superstitions, belief in fetishes and ancestral spirits. Most of the homes have ancestral shrines and traditional medicine men who claim to cure diseases and administer good luck charms.

There is also poor hygiene, poor toilet facilities, and a lack of piped water. A project funded by AMREF in 2005, constructed tanks to harvest rain water for houses in the county. But more houses have been built and rain water is only a certainty in the rainy season.

An elderly herdsman who has lived in the area since 1997 said: “With no electricity or cheap solar energy, and young people very superstitious and having careless sexual lifestyles, HIV/AIDS is likely to increase in the next two to three years.”

Planning for health services takes place in the district headquarters in Luwero, 20 kilometers away. It costs 15,000 Uganda shillings ($6) to go there by motorcycle, the most readily available method of transport. The next available option is a locally made canoe used to ferry those with an appointment across river Sezibwe to Seeta Mukono, also known as Bugerere.