Recent Activities

This activity was conducted in three districts of Wakiso, Rukungiri, and Kanungu targeting local leaders and community structures to increase COVID19 Vaccine uptake. The leaders who participated in the event were LC III Chairperson, the division clerks, the District Health Educator, the ADHO, the VHTS and the health workers. Key issues raise was the fact that there is still predominant hesitancy about the effectiveness and safety of the vaccine, availability of all types of vaccines, attitude of health workers, Corruption to acquire the vaccination certificate and payment of the VHTs who mobilize people for vaccination. Therefore, AGHA together with other partners will influence the district leadership and the ministry of health team needs to intentionally come out to address the issues pointed out.

The Covid 19 Vaccines’ Acceptance and uptake Project (COVAP) is a one-year (12 months) project designed to increase the Covid 19 vaccines acceptance and uptake amongst rural and urban-poor communities.  The project will be implemented in a consortium of like-minded partners which include; ARUWE (Action for Rural Women’s Empowerment), Medicines Transparency Alliance (MeTA), UNHCO (Uganda National Health Consumers Organization), WWM (Women with a Mission) and AGHA-Uganda

The Inception meeting was conducted in the three districts of Wakiso, Kanungu and Rukungiri officiated by the Deputy Chief Administrative Officers. AGHA was appreciated   for the interest to work in their Districts to contribute to the efforts geared towards ending COVID 19 infection. Applauded other implementing partners implementing in the districts supporting them on COVID 19 prevention especially Infectious Disease Institute (IDI). The meeting was attended by 34 people (8M:26F). Other partners who attended were; ARUWE (Action for Rural women’s Empowerment), Mild May. It worth noting that Wakiso is ranked last among other districts in the country in terms of covid19 Vaccine uptake standing at 6.4%.It was further highlighted that about 7927 people were reported to have been infected by COVID19, and out of these, 137 died, and 7790 recovered.

Consultative meeting in Older Women SRHR Issues in Light of Covid19 Crisis virtual via zoom.

Participants were taken through the minimum packages of reproductive health,safe motherhood, including post-abortion care, family planning, adolescent health, STls including HIVIAIDS, reproductive organ cancer, gender-based violence, menopause and andropause, infertility prevention and treatment, obstetric fistulae.

Helping older women to understand naming of their body and how it works in their Life like:

• Oestrogens are a group of hormones useful in the normal sexual and reproductive development in women Produced mainly in the ovaries (small amounts are produced by adrenal glands and fat tissue)
• Breast development in puberty, pregnancy and   milk secretion in postpartum period
• Uterus: Growth and thickening of the endometrial lining in preparation for pregnancy
• Vagina and vulva: support the growth of mucosa cells
• Bones: growth of long bones in puberty; protects the bones by reducing calcium loss
• Heart and blood vessels: controls cholesterol levels and reduces risk of coronary artery disease

Older women supported to understand their fears while facing menopause and discussing them in details.

• Nearing death, Mobility challenges, Loneliness, Loss of income, General poor health and being inactive

The older women were also supported to understand their exciting moments while facing menopause about

• No menses, no expenditure on pads, having grandchildren, Being alone

AGHA also coached the older women on life skills development hinged on future planning.

The above challenges of life during menopause induced the discussion on the panning for life after retirement

The trainer encouraged members to start saving with the Mazima retirement saving scheme. The scheme is regulated by Uganda retirement benefit authority. The saving encourages the 70:30 model of saving where 70 of the penny received is saved for retirement and 30 can be accessed for other use. The scheme also encourages members to save one hundred thousand shillings per week saving.

International menopause day commemoration (National consultative meeting on older women SRHR issues in light of covid 19 crisis)

Older women also helped understand what the law say about their fate in SRHR access;

• A woman above 50 years is believed to have misbehavior to seek for abortion services, if a woman is still spotting having period.
• Abortion in Uganda is only restricted on grounds that it is performed by a licensed medical doctor in a situation where the woman’s life is deemed to be at risk.
• The laws in Uganda does not consider legal and safe abortion including situations of incest, rape, teenage pregnancy, mental health illness which may lead to unwanted and unplanned Pregnancies.
• lacking access to safe and legal abortions, many of them turn to unsafe abortion practices, such as self-induced abortions

The older women were also taking through to understand their reproductive health rights.

• Reproductive rights embrace certain human rights that are already recognized in international human rights documents and national laws. The reproductive rights include:
• The right of all couples and individuals to decide freely and responsibly the number, spacing and timing of their children.
• The right to information regarding sexual and reproductive health;
• The right to attain the highest standard of sexual and reproductive health;
• The ‘right to make decisions concerning reproduction, free of discrimination, coercion and violence.

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY:

This report consists of two community vaccine sensitization outreach activities carried out in two Sub- County of Kanyatorogo and   in Kanugu district. The   activities were supported by the kirima health centre III in the area that is kirima with facilitation from AGHA -Uganda. This outreach managed to yield 279 people vaccinated in one event drive. This team comprised of mobilisers, health workers and community leaders who did the vaccination exercise and recording the persons vaccinated.

Background of AGHA

Action Group for Health, Human Rights and HIV/AIDS (AGHA)–Uganda is an indigenous non-governmental organization founded in July 2003 to mobilize health professionals and health consumers to address issues of human rights as they relate to health. Grounded on a rights-based approach, AGHA brings together health professionals with NGOs interested in promoting human rights in the health sector to create local and national networks dedicated to health advocacy. AGHA is part of the broader partnerships at national and community levels dedicated to improving and addressing the convergence between health and human rights in Uganda with particular focus on promoting equity and social justice for all Ugandans and especially the marginalized and disadvantaged populations.

Project Background

Misinformation, Disinformation and mistrust often undermines community vaccine uptake, yet information in rural communities, especially of developing countries, is scarce. The COVID-19 pandemic has adversely impacted global health systems and the socio-economic fabric of societies worldwide. By 20^th October 2021 there were over 240 million confirmed cases and 4.9 million deaths. The reopening of economies and return to social life is heavily dependent on adequate distribution and uptake of COVID-19 vaccines.

There has however, been wide inequity in the distribution of COVID vaccines. Out of over six billion vaccine doses have been distributed globally, 65% have gone to high income countries. Uganda planned to vaccinate 21.9 million people aged 18 years and above in two phases starting with a priority population of about 4.8 million people. However, of the priority groups, only 12% had received the second dose of vaccine by 15^th October 2021 which represents 2.7% of the planned vaccinations. Of the priority groups; 41.6% of health workers were fully vaccinated, 22.8% of security personnel, 20.2% of teachers, 4.7% elderly (aged 50+) and 2.4% of people with comorbidities. Besides the procurement and supply challenges experienced in accessing the vaccines, there is widespread hesitancy by the population driven by high levels of misinformation and disinformation mainly proliferated by social media but also limited government guidance on the matter. There is a pipeline of over 8.6 million doses of vaccines expected between October and December 2021 but the current slow uptake will affect use. There is therefore an urgent need to ramp up community information drives to ensure that the population is adequately covered and protected. Studies conducted in Uganda so far have also revealed that confidence in, trust and access to COVID-19 vaccines is still low among rural and urban communities because of misinformation, disinformation, social influence and inadequate interventions to popularize Covid 19 Vaccines uptake and acceptance. FOR MORE INFORMATION DOWNLOAD PDF

Report for Community Vaccine Sensitization and Outreach Meetings_Kanungu-Kanyantorogo

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The Covid 19 Vaccines’ Acceptance and uptake Project (COVAP) is a one-year (12 months) project designed to increase the Covid 19 vaccines acceptance and uptake amongst rural and urban-poor communities.  The project will be implemented by a consortium of like-minded partners which include; ARUWE, Medicines Transparency Alliance (MeTA), UNHCO, WWM and AGHA-Uganda. The project will specifically help to increase; access to vaccines, public trust, access to Covid 19 and vaccines information and increase collaboration amongst stakeholders. The project will also specifically tackle issues of Covid 19 Vaccine disinformation and misinformation through a well-coordinated set of interventions for example community awareness campaigns awareness, factual and timely communication campaigns, collaboration engagements, aimed at increasing uptake of the secured Covid 19 vaccines.

The project interventions will target to engage the following stakeholders; locally elected officials, health workers, Village health Teams (VHTs), Social workers, Counselors, Faith leaders, Teachers, counsellors, the private sector, other Civil society Organizations and the community at large among others. It is upon this background that AGH will development of IEC materials in English, Luganda and Runyakitara in the month of July 2022.FOR MORE INFORMATION DOWNLOAD PDF

RUKUNGIRI Community Vaccine Sensitization and Outreach Meeting Draft Report

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One of the participants happily receiving the COVID 19 vaccine

The COVID 19 Vaccines’ Acceptance and uptake Project (COVAP) is a one-year (12 months) project designed to increase the COVID 19 vaccines acceptance and uptake amongst rural and urban-poor communities.  The project is being implemented by a consortium of five CSOs which include; ARUWE, Medicines Transparency Alliance (MeTA), UNHCO, WWM and AGHA-Uganda. The project aims to increase; access to vaccines, public trust, access to COVID 19 and vaccines information and increase collaboration amongst stakeholders. The project is currently tackling issues of COVID 19 Vaccine disinformation and misinformation through a well-coordinated set of interventions for example community awareness campaigns awareness, factual and timely communication campaigns, collaborative engagements focused at increasing uptake of COVID 19 vaccines.

The key project interventions are currently targeting the following stakeholders; locally elected officials, health workers, Village health Teams (VHTs), political  Counselors, Faith leaders, Teachers,  the private sector, other Civil Society Organizations and the community at large among others.

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Wakiso District Community Vaccine Sensitization and Outreach Meetings

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Some of the People who came to be vaccinated in Tula village-Kawempe