Since inception RCRA has built capacity and systems in health programs delivery. Below you will learn about our community and reproductive health initiatives completed and ongoing.

Introduction and scale-up of new and lesser utilized medicines for postpartum hemorrhage (NLUM-PPH) in 10 districts in Tooro, Uganda, 2024-2025.(Ongoing)

RCRA with funding from Reproductive Health Supplies Coalition (RHSC) is implementing interventions geared at supporting the national- and county-level introduction and scale-up of new and lesser utilized medicines for postpartum hemorrhage (NLUM-PPH) in 10 districts in Tooro, Uganda for the prevention and treatment of postpartum hemorrhage (primarily, heat-stable carbetocin [HSC] and tranexamic acid [TXA])—the leading cause of maternal mortality.

The program interventions includes, a regional-level inception meeting with five participants from each of the 10 districts of Tooro sub-region.

Capacity-building of health care providers in the Tooro sub-region. Conduct a 5-day regional Training of 40 Trainers-A cascade training activity will start with a training of trainers. Conduct a 2-day facility-based mentorship of 136 health facilities in the Tooro region, and facilitating quarterly targeted joint monitoring and supportive supervision.

RCRA Community Health Centre III (Ongoing)

RCRA’s flagship social enterprise in Kasese was started in 2021 with the aim of providing low cost solutions that meet the healthcare needs of the rural communities.

The health centre offers both low cost and subsidized Primary Health Care (PHC) services to adolescents (10-19 years), youth, children, women, and their partners.

Centre that offers a range of coThe health centre hosts an Adolescent ntraception options as well as education, advice, and services for sexual and reproductive health.;

The Adolescent Centre consists of a clinical package of comprehensive adolescents’ sexual reproductive health services; and a Recreation Centre providing adolescents access to computers and computer skills training. A pool table and access to digital SRH information is available for boys.

Girls have access to SRH information the use of sewing machines for making re-usable sanitary pads.

Accelerating access to numerous family planning services, primary healthcare, and climate resilient families in rural underserved communities in the Albertine region.(Ongoing)

With funding from Community Health and Sustainable Environment (CHASE Africa), RCRA is implementing activities aimed at scaling access to numerous family planning services, primary healthcare, and climate resilient families in rural underserved communities in the Albertine region.

The activities will continue creating awareness on the benefits of being able to choose the timing and spacing of children and the family planning methods available thereby increasing access to a full range of modern contraceptives and other primary health care services, and integrated natural resource management.

The activities builds on the vast experience gained from the several outreaches in Kasese district sub-counties since inception in 2019 and the lessons learnt during implementation. The community activities are currently implemented in the 3 districts, namely; Kasese, Bunyangabu and Isingiro district in the Nakivake Refugees Settlement.

Overall Goal:
To meet the unmet need for sexual and reproductive health (SRH) services in Kasese and Bunyangabu districts, while simultaneously empowering communities to manage their natural resources in a sustainable manner, contributing to the Sustainable Development Goals.

Intended Objectives

⦁ Improve awareness and uptake of family planning and adolescent sexual reproductive health and rights (ASRHR) of 110,000 persons among whom 33,936 persons will access quality, integrated SRH services by December 2025.
⦁ Increase access of young people (10-19 years) to appropriate sexual reproductive health services, maternal and child health, HIV prevention and treatment by December 2025.
⦁ Increase community capacity to sustainably manage their natural resources, increase food security, improve livelihoods, and balance ecosystems and human health.
⦁ Strengthen RCRA’s capacity and systems to effectively deliver family planning services through different channels and undertake program monitoring and evaluation

Actions to achieve the project goals:
Planning and quarterly review meetings at district level, awareness raising among the targeted population, community Mobilization and sensitization, Refresher training for community health workers and peer educators, Conducting mobile day outreach day clinics, Formation of new and strengthening existing adolescent health clubs in schools, Integrated family planning mobile outreach day Clinics, door-to-door home visits, by community health workers and Backpack Nurses, referrals, sexuality health and conservation education, gender awareness raising, construction of energy cooking stoves, establishment of backyard vegetable gardens, drying racks, tippy taps, mosquito nets, social behavior change communications.

Adolescent HIV prevention, treatment, care and support in Kasese District, Uganda (ongoing)

place in 5 sub-counties of Busongera North, Kasese District, Uganda. It is a mountainous, predominantly rural area of Western Uganda, bordering DRC; sandwiched between Lakes Albert, George and Edward. 85% of people are subsistence farmers in the valleys and the slopes of the Rwenzori Mountains, but population growth and an influx of refugees from DRC is putting pressure on already constrained resources.

The community have extremely poor health indicators compared to the national average; there are very low levels of knowledge on Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights (SRHR) information and poor access to services as well as high environmental degradation deforestation and soil erosion, which has lowered agricultural yields, exacerbated food insecurity and amplified issues of poverty and inequality.

Specific problems we are addressing

Levels of awareness of HIV are low, with only 45% of women, and 44% of men having comprehensive knowledge on HIV. Stigma is also widespread; a common belief being HIV is spread by sharing food; 22% of youth believe that children with HIV should not attend school. Despite tremendous national progress reducing HIV prevalence to 6.6%, the Rwenzori Region has shown persistently high rates of new HIV infections with a prevalence amongst adolescents of 13.6%. The Rwenzori Region also has one of the highest percentages of multiple sexual partners and lowest rates of condom use putting vulnerable victims of forced and unprotected sex at risk of contracting HIV.

There is minimal HIV counselling and testing taking place in the project site. The public clinics are small and poorly equipped; HIV testing kits are regularly out of stock. HIV testing in private clinics
Through this project we wish to improve levels of HIV awareness, increase condom use and rates of HIV testing as well as supporting adolescents with HIV to be linked to and adhere to treatment.

Anticipated project

  • Outcome 1. To prevent transmission of HIV through improved knowledge of HIV, increased use of condoms, increased uptake of HIV testing and counselling.
    Outcome 2. To support 500 Adolescents living with HIV to be linked to treatment and supported to suppress their viral load, 2025

Ugandan Grandmothers Programme (Ongoing)

The Uganda Grandmothers Programme (UGP) has been implemented by the Rwenzori Center for Research and Advocacy (RCRA) since 2019. The programme is funded by individual voluntary donors in Ireland.

These grandmothers are caregivers of Orphans and Vulnerable Children (OVC), as well as children and grandchildren affected by HIV/AIDS and poverty.

In this programme, groups of grandmothers in rural villages in the greater Kasese district were formed and the delivery of an integrated programme of health, education, and livelihood support was provided.

Under health support, the programme provides education, screening, and access to services related to diabetes, hypertension, and other Noncommunicable diseases (NCDs).

In addition, the programme aims to develop the capacity of older women to form model households and engage in intergenerational learning (IGL) whereby children and older people are engaged in reciprocal learning.

This IGL initiative was introduced in 2022 in primary schools to enable grandmothers to discuss with the older pupils the importance of remaining in school and avoiding teenage pregnancy.

The initiative also provided an opportunity for grandmothers to learn basic greetings in English from the pupils.

Under the livelihood support component, the grandmother-headed households received a goat; seeds and training in kitchen gardening; materials and training for soap making; help to buy scholastic materials and reusable sanitary pads, as well as support to establish Village Savings and Loans Associations (VSLA).

The program does not work solely but is integrated with other programmes, including the 1000 Women’s Gardens. One of the outcomes is the participation of 625 grandmothers since the programme’s inception.

Support to Ministry of Health Uganda to review and update national clinical guidelines with Heat Stable Carbetocin and TXA (Completed)

With financial support from WACI Health Kenya, Rwenzori Center for Research and Advocacy (RCRA) in partnership with the Ministry of Health and other development partners successfully introduced a new medicine- Heat Stable Carbetocin (HSC) and Tranexamic Acid (TXA) in Uganda for prevention and treatment of Postpartum Hemorrhage respectively from 2021 to 2022.

This included facilitating updating the Essential Packages of Health Services (EPHS) for the inclusion of Heat Stable Carbetocin and Tranexamic Acid for the management of Postpartum Hemorrhage in line with the UHC Agenda in Uganda, through facilitating Technical Working Group (TWG) meetings for reviewing and updating the Essential Package of Health Services, included key stakeholders such as the MoH Senior Management, The Association of Obstetricians and Gynecologists of Uganda (AOGU), District Health Officers (DHOs), National Medical Stores (NMS), Director of Regional Referral Hospitals.

Convened validation meetings for reviewing, updating and finalizing the Uganda National Essential Package of Health Services

Bi-directional community -clinical linkages and referrals to services for people living with HIV, orphan, and vulnerable children. ( Completed)

RCRA in partnership with Baylor College of Medicine and Children’s Foundation in implemented project in Kasese in 2016-2018 aimed Strengthening linkages from the community to the health facility and vice-versa

Responsible to provide a range of social services and basic clinical services to referred clients, conduct referrals and linkages to the facilities, update the registers, conduct OVC assessments, identification and enrollments in Kasese district

Accelerating Epidemic Control (ACE-Fort)/ HIV Prevention and Response( Completed)

RCRA in partnership with Baylor College of Medicine and Children’s Foundation in implemented project Supporting implementation and acceleration of comprehensive prevention, care, and treatment programs for HIV epidemic control in the Fort portal region for adults and children under the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR), under the theme, “Utilizing community structures to accelerate epidemic control in Fort region”

The project has 5 core project areas; Economic strengthening, Child Protection and Legal Support, Food Security and Nutrition, Health and stability and education in Kasese district in 2019-2023

Health of People and Environment (HoPE-LVB) ( Completed)

RCRA in partnership with Pathfinder International in 2018-2019, implemented a cross-sectional project aimed at improving the uptake of essential sexual, reproductive and MNCH (maternal, neonatal and child health) services, integrated with HIV and malaria services among populations living in the Kasese district.

Increasing communities’ capacities to sustainably manage natural resources in an attempt to increase food security and improve livelihoods in Kasese district; and utilize the emerging PHE policy framework to support health system strengthening, natural resource management and the scaling up of the HoPE-LVB model for Population Health and Environment integration in Kasese project sites.

Funding

Currently, 1,000 Women’s Gardens is supported by over 200 individual donors through Global Giving as well as funding from the Packard Foundation and 128 Collective