ICRC Delivers Health Pilot Project in Northern Uganda

ICRC Delivers Another Health Pilot Project in Northern Uganda to the Authorities

Kampala (ICRC) - Following the successful completion of an on-going Health Pilot Project (HPP) that resulted in significant improvement in the health status of prison inmates at the Gulu Prison in Gulu District, Northern Uganda, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) is today handing over the project to the Uganda Prison Service (UPS).

According to Dr Fatah Labib, the ICRC Health Programme Manager, ''we're quite pleased that this project achieved its objective of building the capacity of the Uganda Prison Health Services to improve on HIV, TB and Malaria control, making them consistent with national policies and thereby enhancing the health status of detainees.'' The programme includes entry level medical screening of inmates on arrival in the prison to identify ailments, particularly infectious diseases and to provide appropriate management and care.

The HPP is the outcome of a 2006 study on health issues in Uganda Prisons and resulted in the development of a concept paper focussing on three pilot (prison) sites. The success achieved in delivering the HPP can be attributed to the cooperation and professionalism exhibited by the National Working Group comprising of the UPS, the Ministry of Health (MoH) and the ICRC that started work in 2007. It will be recalled that the ICRC had delivered the first completed HPP at Luzira Upper Prison to the authorities in March 2012.  

''Consistent with its practice of mobilising other health actors in the course of the HPP, the ICRC was able to facilitate the establishment of a Health Centre at Gulu Prison, equipped with fully functional OPD, Maternity and Laboratory which serves all inmates, prison staff and the surrounding communities,'' says Riccardo Conti, Head of the ICRC's Kampala delegation. ''We are on course to completing the entire programme when we hand over the Fort Portal HPP to the authorities very soon,'' he concluded.    

The ICRC has been present in Uganda since 1979 and undertakes protection work in favour of refugees and detainees, provides water and sanitation facilities (in collaboration with the Uganda Red Cross Society— URCS) and supports integration and promotion of International Humanitarian Law (IHL).

ENDS

© Scoop Media