Ssenvuma Memorial Community Hospital
The first hospital for Kasanje Town Council and the 20+ islands of Bussi — maternity theatre, paediatric nutrition, HIV/TB care and a boat ambulance.
Kasanje and Bussi are fishing communities in Wakiso District with some of the worst health indicators in Uganda, yet they are served only by Health Centre IIIs. Bussi Islands has one HC III for more than 20 islands. Kasanje HC III has no theatre and no ambulance, and refers every complicated mother to Entebbe Referral Hospital — across a ferry. Government policy says a Health Centre III should have 55 workers including two doctors, and that HC IVs should be upgraded to community hospitals with 130 workers including five doctors. Kasanje is the mainland gateway to Bussi Islands, which makes it the right place to build. Ssenvuma Memorial Care Foundation was founded in memory of a man who sheltered seven widowed families in 2006. We now propose a hospital that will shelter an entire sub-county.
The challenge
Bussi Islands children are stunted at 29.8% and underweight at 16.1%. Among pregnant women in these hard-to-reach fishing villages, HIV prevalence is 23.5%, anaemia 34.2% and hypertension 12.5%. HIV among fisherfolk in Wakiso, Mukono and Kalangala stands at 26.7% — roughly four times the national average. 22.5% of Bussi households drink untreated water and 33.7% dispose of waste in open fields. 71.9% of patients use a boda boda to reach Bussi HC III and 45.7% spend UGX 5,000 or more just to travel there and back. When that HC III cannot help, the journey continues by boat and road to Entebbe — and many mothers deliver on the way.
Our expectation
- check_circleMaternity and surgical theatre so mothers are no longer referred across a ferry — caesarean sections, post-abortion care and obstetric complications handled locally
- check_circlePaediatric nutrition unit treating stunting and underweight with therapeutic feeding, deworming, vaccination and safe water education
- check_circleComprehensive HIV and TB care: ART clinic, PMTCT for HIV-positive mothers, PEP (only 22.2% access it in Bussi today) and adherence support for mobile fishermen
- check_circleEmergency and ambulance boat service bringing island emergencies to Kasanje instead of Entebbe
- check_circleA solar-powered, community-centred campus reachable by both boat and road
Results
Bussi and Kasanje are not hard to reach because they are far — they are hard to reach because the health system never reached them. The hospital ends the ferry referral, brings a doctor-led team to the mainland gateway of the islands, and turns the foundation's existing community health clinic into a full continuum of maternal, child, HIV and emergency care.
At a glance
Location: Kasanje Town Council, Wakiso District
Community served: Kasanje Town Council and the 20+ islands of Bussi Sub-county, Lake Victoria
Funding: Phase 1 capital appeal: maternity and theatre block, paediatric nutrition unit, HIV/TB clinic and one boat ambulance.
$0 raised of $450,000