Pre-hospital emergency care should be a vital and integral component of Uganda’s health system, despite all constrains. Injuries, trauma and non-communicable diseases are responsible for a rising proportion of death and disability in low-income and middle-income countries. However, delivering effective services to meet the need can be a daunting challenge.
Health care in Uganda has not traditionally focused on emergency medical care and according to the UN health agency, the death of pre-hospital care in Uganda, which would enormously save lives, translates to only 7 per cent of critically ill patients in the country being delivered to health facilities by ambulances.
Establishing low-cost interventions that targets first responder training coupled with establishing an emergency ambulance response system within focal community hospitals has the potential of yielding positive outcomes at a relatively low cost.
Our Idea
Between 2017 and 2019, Hapa Resources undertook a training program for volunteer first responders with the goal of running a three-phased project aimed at engaging in activities intended to develop human resource capacity and build systems that was be the foundations for establishing a working model for a community emergency response and patient transport system that would initially be operational only within Kawempe Municipality.
Hapa Resources is intentional at pursuing this project that is intended to contribute towards emergency medical ambulance response and patient transport services in Kampala, to reach an approximate population of 338,312 (Kampala Slum Profile 2012) residents of Kawempe I in Kawempe Municipality with life-saving medical assistance regardless of social or economic background.
Our goal is to set up an emergency system that provides immediate and proper handling of trauma and non-trauma conditions through a backbone that is integrated with the overall health care system in Kawempe Municipality, Department of Health services, however fledgling it currently is.
- Develop institutional and individual partnerships for training and education collaborations to meet our goal.
- Foster the development of public education and awareness of emergency medical and health services.
This proposed emergency system will serve an approximate population of 338,312 (Kampala Slum Profile 2012) residents of Kawempe I in Kawempe Municipality with life-saving medical assistance regardless of social or economic background. Subsequent Monitoring and Evaluation processes will inform on improvements and adjustments that will lead to replication of the model for rolling out to other Municipalities of Kampala District.
We are engaging in public-private partnership agreements in order to ensure success of the project and these are established between four hospitals within the Municipality that will initially serve as focal referral points.
Project Details
The mission of this project is to establish initiatives that deliver capacity building for EMS at the grassroots. The project is intended to equip trainees with the knowledge, skills and equipment to respond in an emergency, and ultimately, save or improve a patient's health outcome.
In order to fulfill this mission, we plan to engage in five main activities:
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Provide opportunities for; internationally certified basic First Aid, Advanced First Aid, and CPR education for partner hospitals, learning centres, and public institutions and to the general public
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Develop partnerships for sustainable projects in the areas of; capacity development and institutional support for EMS, health education, health promotion, and disease prevention. .
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Engage in networking and partnership development efforts that will result in continued education for skills refreshment and project expansion.