ADM-translator - Page 3 - Fondazione Dr. Ambrosoli Memorial Hospital

the past year was dramatic, but it offered us some new opportunities such as intensifying the relationship with you in
a general moment of fear and loneliness. To be honest, due to the spread of the pandemic, we were afraid of not being able to
keep the commitments made with the hospital and the midwifery school.

Your prompt and concrete response in such an uncertain moment surprised us once again. It is thanks to you if we intervened promptly to support the
hospital facing the pandemic and to ensure that no medical activities were suspended. It is thanks to you if despite all the inevitable difficulties we managed to carry on the ongoing projects, concluding the new isolation wards of pediatrics, toilet facilities and the new kitchens specific for that ward: essential interventions to improve the well-being of children forced into periods of isolation. We almost reached the last year of restorations of the accomodations for hospital staff, whose continuous presence is even more important today.

Unfortunately, these concrete results go with the indirect but still dramatic effects of the pandemic.

An example above all: the number of deliveries in hospital has been halved compared to the previous year. A lot of women have renounced safe delivery for the fear and the difficulties to go to the hospital, choosing to give birth at home without the assistance of qualified midwives.
2,707 versus 4,778 deliveries: this halved number tells of deliveries occurred in extremely life-threatening conditions for mothers and their children. The hospital staff is working hard to strengthen instruments and strategies to promote health in the villages among those who do not have access to the basic health services.

And of course they are continuing to take care of the nearly 50,000 people who go to the hospital every year. Our strength in being by their side has always been the mutual trust in the relationship between the Foundation and you who support us. A red thread that connects us and you with Kalongo and allows us to carry out with coherence and seriousness the legacy of love that Father Giuseppe Ambrosoli left us, in order that the hospital remains a concrete and safe point of reference for all the thousands of people who have trusted in it for over 60 years.[/vc_column_text][divider line_type="No Line" custom_height="50"][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row type="in_container" full_screen_row_position="middle" column_margin="default" column_direction="default" column_direction_tablet="default" column_direction_phone="default" scene_position="center" text_color="dark" text_align="left" row_border_radius="none" row_border_radius_applies="bg" overlay_strength="0.3" gradient_direction="left_to_right" shape_divider_position="bottom" bg_image_animation="none"][vc_column column_padding="no-extra-padding" column_padding_tablet="inherit" column_padding_phone="inherit" column_padding_position="all" background_color_opacity="1" background_hover_color_opacity="1" column_shadow="none" column_border_radius="none" column_link_target="_self" gradient_direction="left_to_right" overlay_strength="0.3" width="1/1" tablet_width_inherit="default" tablet_text_alignment="default" phone_text_alignment="default" column_border_width="none" column_border_style="solid" bg_image_animation="none"][nectar_btn size="small" button_style="regular" button_color_2="Accent-Color" icon_family="none" text="CONTINUE READING THE MAGAZINE" url="https://www.fondazioneambrosoli.it/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/Kalongo-News-EN-2021_1.pdf"][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row type="in_container" full_screen_row_position="middle" column_margin="default" column_direction="default" column_direction_tablet="default" column_direction_phone="default" scene_position="center" text_color="dark" text_align="left" row_border_radius="none" row_border_radius_applies="bg" overlay_strength="0.3" gradient_direction="left_to_right" shape_divider_position="bottom" bg_image_animation="none"][vc_column column_padding="no-extra-padding" column_padding_tablet="inherit" column_padding_phone="inherit" column_padding_position="all" background_color_opacity="1" background_hover_color_opacity="1" column_shadow="none" column_border_radius="none" column_link_target="_self" gradient_direction="left_to_right" overlay_strength="0.3" width="1/1" tablet_width_inherit="default" tablet_text_alignment="default" phone_text_alignment="default" column_border_width="none" column_border_style="solid" bg_image_animation="none"][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row type="in_container" full_screen_row_position="middle" column_margin="default" column_direction="default" column_direction_tablet="default" column_direction_phone="default" scene_position="center" text_color="dark" text_align="left" row_border_radius="none" row_border_radius_applies="bg" overlay_strength="0.3" gradient_direction="left_to_right" shape_divider_position="bottom" bg_image_animation="none"][vc_column column_padding="no-extra-padding" column_padding_tablet="inherit" column_padding_phone="inherit" column_padding_position="all" background_color_opacity="1" background_hover_color_opacity="1" column_shadow="none" column_border_radius="none" column_link_target="_self" gradient_direction="left_to_right" overlay_strength="0.3" width="1/1" tablet_width_inherit="default" tablet_text_alignment="default" phone_text_alignment="default" column_border_width="none" column_border_style="solid" bg_image_animation="none"][/vc_column][/vc_row]

[vc_row type="in_container" full_screen_row_position="middle" column_margin="default" column_direction="default" column_direction_tablet="default" column_direction_phone="default" scene_position="center" text_color="dark" text_align="left" row_border_radius="none" row_border_radius_applies="bg" overlay_strength="0.3" gradient_direction="left_to_right" shape_divider_position="bottom" bg_image_animation="none"][vc_column column_padding="no-extra-padding" column_padding_tablet="inherit" column_padding_phone="inherit" column_padding_position="all" background_color_opacity="1" background_hover_color_opacity="1" column_shadow="none" column_border_radius="none" column_link_target="_self" gradient_direction="left_to_right" overlay_strength="0.3" width="1/1" tablet_width_inherit="default" tablet_text_alignment="default" phone_text_alignment="default" column_border_width="none" column_border_style="solid" bg_image_animation="none"][vc_column_text]Women in Africa are the driving force of the Country, its strength. They do everything possible to get education, earn a salary which allow blended families to live and make their children study, cultivate the fields and above all they do not give up thanks to their inner power. But being a woman is still a challenge within a challenge: even if more and more are those trying to redeem themselves from a condition of economic and social disadvantage, the obstacles and difficulties to overcome are still many.

Fertility rates in Africa are the highest in the world. In Uganda every woman has an average of 6 children and 15% gives birth to her first child between the ages of 15 and 19. More than 1 in 5 women between the ages of 15 and 49 has experienced some kind of sexual abuse in her lifetime, and most of this violence happens within the household, especially in the rural areas where education is poor. Gender-based violence can have devastating consequences for their lives: very often they have to face unwanted pregnancies, abortions carried out in unsafe conditions, with the risk of contracting sexually transmitted infections. Women conditions in Uganda are still extremely critical.

Recurring pregnancies are the main reason for health and social problems, especially when they are unwanted and happen in contexts of great poverty. A delicate and urgent issue. If fertility rates remain unvaried, United Nations forecasts expect that in 2050 the world population will be 10.6 billion and, with an unchanged trend, in 2100 it will reach 15.8 billion.

But with the stories of Gladys, Molly, Sida, Hellen who graduated from our Midwifery School, we have the proof that things can change, that the woman becoming self-efficient can overcome all the social problems by contributing to the community and protecting many new lives.

Work here at Kalongo hospital is in the hands of women: female nurses, doctors and midwives help in taking care of many mothers and children fighting mother-child mortality, and in training the midwifery school students.

Since its inception in 1959, about 1,500 midwives have graduated from the St. Midwifery School and, thanks to a proper training, they have professionally contributed to the prevention and the treatment of women not only in Uganda, but also in many Countries of sub-Saharan Africa.

The number of enrolled women has increased over the years and the annual average of female students who finish the courses is about 30 for the professional midwives course and about 12 for the head nurse midwives degree.

In addition to guaranteeing medical continuity in the maternity ward of the hospital, the School also contributes to the development of the social role of woman, considered important to reach the female empowerment. The training works entirely on the female figure and on being women, trying to help them to become independent in their decisions, to acquire common sense and clarity of thought without being influenced by the male figure.

Investing in women's empowerment means creating an essential prerequisite for the realization of social justice, it means encouraging a direct path towards gender equality, the eradication of poverty and an inclusive economic growth, especially in remote and rural areas of the world, where social, economic and cultural limitations are added to natural and environmental adversities. This is the important and forward-looking legacy that Father Giuseppe left us and for which he gave his life and that today can be read in the smiles, willpower and pride of all the students of the Midwifery School who know they can make the difference.

Thank you for helping us to make their dreams come true![/vc_column_text][divider line_type="No Line" custom_height="50"][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row type="in_container" full_screen_row_position="middle" column_margin="default" column_direction="default" column_direction_tablet="default" column_direction_phone="default" scene_position="center" text_color="dark" text_align="left" row_border_radius="none" row_border_radius_applies="bg" overlay_strength="0.3" gradient_direction="left_to_right" shape_divider_position="bottom" bg_image_animation="none"][vc_column column_padding="no-extra-padding" column_padding_tablet="inherit" column_padding_phone="inherit" column_padding_position="all" background_color_opacity="1" background_hover_color_opacity="1" column_shadow="none" column_border_radius="none" column_link_target="_self" gradient_direction="left_to_right" overlay_strength="0.3" width="1/1" tablet_width_inherit="default" tablet_text_alignment="default" phone_text_alignment="default" column_border_width="none" column_border_style="solid" bg_image_animation="none"][/vc_column][/vc_row]

[vc_row type="in_container" full_screen_row_position="middle" column_margin="default" column_direction="default" column_direction_tablet="default" column_direction_phone="default" scene_position="center" text_color="dark" text_align="left" row_border_radius="none" row_border_radius_applies="bg" overlay_strength="0.3" gradient_direction="left_to_right" shape_divider_position="bottom" bg_image_animation="none"][vc_column column_padding="no-extra-padding" column_padding_tablet="inherit" column_padding_phone="inherit" column_padding_position="all" background_color_opacity="1" background_hover_color_opacity="1" column_shadow="none" column_border_radius="none" column_link_target="_self" gradient_direction="left_to_right" overlay_strength="0.3" width="1/1" tablet_width_inherit="default" tablet_text_alignment="default" phone_text_alignment="default" column_border_width="none" column_border_style="solid" bg_image_animation="none"][vc_column_text]“Encouraging pregnant women to continue attending prenatal exams, to feed properly, and to exclusively breastfeed for the first six months, is essential to prevent malnutrition in younger children. As well as convincing parents to take malnourished children to the hospital as soon as possible, without waiting until it is too late, is crucial in vast, isolated and poor areas, like this one”, says Alice Akello, passionate nurse, on the front line in the fight against malnutrition in the Nutrition Unit of Kalongo Hospital.

“To stop malnutrition it is necessary to reach and involve mothers, parents and local communities so that they learn how to recognize the first signs of malnutrition and become aware of the importance of eating nutritious food to prevent it. That is also why we visit the villages and teach people which foods to grow in their gardens and how to cook them to safeguard nutritional values. We promote good health and hygiene practices to prevent diseases such as worm infestations, diarrhoea and malaria that cause long-term malnutrition. Unfortunately, Kalongo District is very large and we did not manage to reach all the villages, there are still many families who cannot benefit from our nutritional and health advice, but we are not going to give up, we want to reach as many families as possible. There are still many children to protect and save ”.

We can't stop![/vc_column_text][divider line_type="No Line" custom_height="50"][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row type="in_container" full_screen_row_position="middle" column_margin="default" column_direction="default" column_direction_tablet="default" column_direction_phone="default" scene_position="center" text_color="dark" text_align="left" row_border_radius="none" row_border_radius_applies="bg" overlay_strength="0.3" gradient_direction="left_to_right" shape_divider_position="bottom" bg_image_animation="none"][vc_column column_padding="no-extra-padding" column_padding_tablet="inherit" column_padding_phone="inherit" column_padding_position="all" background_color_opacity="1" background_hover_color_opacity="1" column_shadow="none" column_border_radius="none" column_link_target="_self" gradient_direction="left_to_right" overlay_strength="0.3" width="1/1" tablet_width_inherit="default" tablet_text_alignment="default" phone_text_alignment="default" column_border_width="none" column_border_style="solid" bg_image_animation="none"][/vc_column][/vc_row]

[vc_row type="in_container" full_screen_row_position="middle" column_margin="default" column_direction="default" column_direction_tablet="default" column_direction_phone="default" scene_position="center" text_color="dark" text_align="left" row_border_radius="none" row_border_radius_applies="bg" overlay_strength="0.3" gradient_direction="left_to_right" shape_divider_position="bottom" bg_image_animation="none"][vc_column column_padding="no-extra-padding" column_padding_tablet="inherit" column_padding_phone="inherit" column_padding_position="all" background_color_opacity="1" background_hover_color_opacity="1" column_shadow="none" column_border_radius="none" column_link_target="_self" gradient_direction="left_to_right" overlay_strength="0.3" width="1/1" tablet_width_inherit="default" tablet_text_alignment="default" phone_text_alignment="default" column_border_width="none" column_border_style="solid" bg_image_animation="none"][vc_column_text]In Africa, the spread of the pandemic is having serious effects on malnutrition and it is the only place in the world where children are the most affected.

Household poverty and food uncertainty rates have increased. Essential nutritional services and supply chains are going on in a discontinuous way. Food prices have skyrocketed. As a result, the quality of the children's diet has decreased and malnutrition rates continue to rise.

A Lancet investigation shows that the predominance of severe malnutrition among children under five could increase by 14.3% in low- and middle-income countries, due to the socio-economic impact of COVID-19. This increase would mean over 10,000 additional children deaths per month, with over 50% of these deaths in sub-Saharan Africa. The estimated increase in severe malnutrition among children is just the tip of the iceberg, UN agencies warn.

Severe malnutrition is life-threatening in children, as it makes them too thin and weak, with a greater risk of dying, or of growing, developing and learning inadequately. But COVID-19 can also increase other forms of malnutrition in children and also in women, including stunting, micronutrient deficiencies, overweight and obesity as a result of poorer diets and of the interruption of nutritional supplies.

Even in Kalongo, where hospitalized patients live much below the poverty line, the pandemic has worsen the already precarious situation of many families. Many people have lost their jobs and face many difficulties in having healthy diet and medical care.

The main victims of this emergency are the many malnourished children, whose number is growing day by day. In 2020, Kalongo hospital treated nearly 600 children suffering from malnutrition or born underweight. Many of them were also affected by malaria, anemia, pneumonia.

In the absence of an effective and timely action, COVID-19 will lead to a dramatic increase in malnourished children.

To deal with this emergency we are putting in place all the resources and skills necessary to promote antenatal visits, postnatal care and breastfeeding; to guarantee proper assistance to hospitalized children; to strengthen the visits in the area that can increase education in eating habits and reach those who, due to the pandemic, can no longer come to the hospital.

These simple but effective measures can make a difference for thousands of children that today more than ever are at risk of malnutrition. This is one of the many challenges we face.[/vc_column_text][divider line_type="No Line" custom_height="50"][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row type="in_container" full_screen_row_position="middle" column_margin="default" column_direction="default" column_direction_tablet="default" column_direction_phone="default" scene_position="center" text_color="dark" text_align="left" row_border_radius="none" row_border_radius_applies="bg" overlay_strength="0.3" gradient_direction="left_to_right" shape_divider_position="bottom" bg_image_animation="none"][vc_column column_padding="no-extra-padding" column_padding_tablet="inherit" column_padding_phone="inherit" column_padding_position="all" background_color_opacity="1" background_hover_color_opacity="1" column_shadow="none" column_border_radius="none" column_link_target="_self" gradient_direction="left_to_right" overlay_strength="0.3" width="1/1" tablet_width_inherit="default" tablet_text_alignment="default" phone_text_alignment="default" column_border_width="none" column_border_style="solid" bg_image_animation="none"][/vc_column][/vc_row]

thank you so much! It is thanks to you if even in 2020, whit a pandemic, we succeeded to guarantee treatments and care of high quality to thousands of people and to go ahead with our projects in Kalongo. You are helping us to write a beautiful story, that started more than 60 years ago with Father Giuseppe and is carried on even now, despite everything, by people able to look beyond one's own history, laying good and deep roots in the future.
In September, Covid-19 also arrived in Kalongo.

At the end of October a total of 44 cases have been registered, most of them within the hospital staff.

It was inevitable, considering how much the staff is daily dealing with all the others health emergencies. After a period of care and isolation positives people were discharged and the staff returned to work. But there is an even worse threat than Covid itself and it is the invisible effects of this sneaky virus. In the last months the hospital is recording numbers that raise the alarm about the real health situation of the district and threaten the economic sustainability of the hospital.

Up to September 2019, the pregnant women in the ward of maternity were 1,262, this year in the same month they were only 345, as well as the number of children hospitalized in pediatrics, that in the same period fell from 1,432 to 434. A dramatic decrease that tells us how the health emergency is impeding the access to care of hundreds of people, aggravating an already precarious economic situation and triggering a dangerous vicious circle that from a lack of health inevitably leads to poverty and vice versa.

The obstetrics school, closed since March for the pandemic, has reopened at the end of September for 109 female students of the last two years.
We are very happy for them but we are wondering what will happen to the 38 girls of the first year who for the moment cannot return to
school. Many of them will be forced to abandon their studies because the even poorer families will no longer be able to afford the expenses for the
school or will prefer to keep them at home contribute to the sustenance of the family.

Although we are aware that we are facing a 2021 full of challenges, we will tenaciously continue to do our best to ensure the
continuity and quality of care services offered by the hospital and the studies of the students of the midwifery school.

Together we can work for those without access to health and to an acceptable life, those who today feel also threatened by the pandemic, just like us.
We don't need to find any other reason to ask you to continue to support us.

Having you by our side today is all that matters.
Merry Christmas dear friends, and above all Happy New Year to you all!

[/vc_column_text][divider line_type="No Line" custom_height="50"][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row type="in_container" full_screen_row_position="middle" scene_position="center" text_color="dark" text_align="left" overlay_strength="0.3" shape_divider_position="bottom" bg_image_animation="none"][vc_column column_padding="no-extra-padding" column_padding_position="all" background_color_opacity="1" background_hover_color_opacity="1" column_link_target="_self" column_shadow="none" column_border_radius="none" width="1/1" tablet_width_inherit="default" tablet_text_alignment="default" phone_text_alignment="default" column_border_width="none" column_border_style="solid" bg_image_animation="none"][nectar_btn size="medium" button_style="regular" button_color_2="Accent-Color" icon_family="none" text="continue reading the magazine" url="https://www.fondazioneambrosoli.it/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/ENGL-web-KalongoNEWS_n03_2020.pdf"][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row type="in_container" full_screen_row_position="middle" scene_position="center" text_color="dark" text_align="left" overlay_strength="0.3" shape_divider_position="bottom" bg_image_animation="none"][vc_column column_padding="no-extra-padding" column_padding_position="all" background_color_opacity="1" background_hover_color_opacity="1" column_link_target="_self" column_shadow="none" column_border_radius="none" width="1/1" tablet_width_inherit="default" tablet_text_alignment="default" phone_text_alignment="default" column_border_width="none" column_border_style="solid" bg_image_animation="none"][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row type="in_container" full_screen_row_position="middle" scene_position="center" text_color="dark" text_align="left" overlay_strength="0.3" shape_divider_position="bottom" bg_image_animation="none"][vc_column column_padding="no-extra-padding" column_padding_position="all" background_color_opacity="1" background_hover_color_opacity="1" column_link_target="_self" column_shadow="none" column_border_radius="none" width="1/1" tablet_width_inherit="default" tablet_text_alignment="default" phone_text_alignment="default" column_border_width="none" column_border_style="solid" bg_image_animation="none"][/vc_column][/vc_row]

as you can imagine, the past few months have been very demanding for us. Kalongo hospital has been suddenly involved in the Covid-19 emergency. We immediately had to face the operational difficulties caused by the emergency. The blockade of transports and shipping delayed the delivery of medical materials and devices, necessary to face not only a possible Covid-19 epidemic, but above all the many daily emergencies, such as pneumonia, airborne infectious diseases and certainly malaria, which is affecting once again the little ones.

In Uganda, the positive cases of Covid-19 are constantly growing, even if they are much less compared to other countries. By the 2nd of September 3,037 confirmed infections and 32 deceased were registered. But the side effects of the emergency are what really scare us.

In recent months in Kalongo the number of hospitalizations dropped dramatically. Due to the restrictive measures imposed by the government which made it difficult to reach the hospital, and to the fear of the population to contract the virus, the cases arriving at the hospital are serious and often fatal.

Children, mothers, entire communities have remained isolated, without medical treatment or healthcare, without the possibility of recovery. That is what the numbers show: in January 2020 the number of the babies born safely in Kalongo was 316 against the 147 in April. Also in January pediatrics welcomed 565 children, while in April only 228 of them. Now the numbers are slowly growing, but what about all those babies born without assisted delivery and those affected by malaria who could not reach the hospital?

There is no answer for these questions, which afflict us but that push us to find new ways to continue staying close to the local community, involving and supporting it. Because the side effects of coronavirus don't fall back "only" on the health: the education of the children is going to fail, the small subsistence activities are disappearing, and the economy of the country is withdrawing. And the consequence of all this is the worsening of poverty and inequalities and the deterioration of the health of individuals and families, in a dramatic vicious circle.

Precisely for this reason, to guarantee basic healthcare
to the most needy, the hospital has intensified its actions on the area. The healthcare professionals have worked hard to bring vaccines to the new born in the villages, to examine pregnant women and children, to monitor malnutrition and respiratory difficulties, to take HIV tests, to organize sanitation educational activities. And at this time they can't count on doctors and trainees from Italy or on trainees of the obstetrics school which will remain closed until December.

Guaranteeing the right to health cannot be postponed to better times, but supporting the hospital with resolution requires a very significant use of resources. Thank you sincerely, because with your support we were able to bring to the hospital oxygen concentrators, pulse oximeters, infrared thermometers, surgical masks, visors and antibacterial fabric, which will allow better care for the most fragile patients. There is still so much to do! Your help is important.

Be proud of it, as we are to have you by our side.

Giovanna Ambrosoli [/vc_column_text][divider line_type="No Line" custom_height="50"][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row type="in_container" full_screen_row_position="middle" scene_position="center" text_color="dark" text_align="left" overlay_strength="0.3" shape_divider_position="bottom" bg_image_animation="none"][vc_column column_padding="no-extra-padding" column_padding_position="all" background_color_opacity="1" background_hover_color_opacity="1" column_link_target="_self" column_shadow="none" column_border_radius="none" width="1/1" tablet_width_inherit="default" tablet_text_alignment="default" phone_text_alignment="default" column_border_width="none" column_border_style="solid" bg_image_animation="none"][nectar_btn size="medium" button_style="regular" button_color_2="Accent-Color" icon_family="none" text="continue reading the magazine" url="https://www.fondazioneambrosoli.it/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/ENGL-KalongoNEWS_n02_2020.pdf"][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row type="in_container" full_screen_row_position="middle" scene_position="center" text_color="dark" text_align="left" overlay_strength="0.3" shape_divider_position="bottom" bg_image_animation="none"][vc_column column_padding="no-extra-padding" column_padding_position="all" background_color_opacity="1" background_hover_color_opacity="1" column_link_target="_self" column_shadow="none" column_border_radius="none" width="1/1" tablet_width_inherit="default" tablet_text_alignment="default" phone_text_alignment="default" column_border_width="none" column_border_style="solid" bg_image_animation="none"][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row type="in_container" full_screen_row_position="middle" scene_position="center" text_color="dark" text_align="left" overlay_strength="0.3" shape_divider_position="bottom" bg_image_animation="none"][vc_column column_padding="no-extra-padding" column_padding_position="all" background_color_opacity="1" background_hover_color_opacity="1" column_link_target="_self" column_shadow="none" column_border_radius="none" width="1/1" tablet_width_inherit="default" tablet_text_alignment="default" phone_text_alignment="default" column_border_width="none" column_border_style="solid" bg_image_animation="none"][/vc_column][/vc_row]

[vc_row type="in_container" full_screen_row_position="middle" scene_position="center" text_color="dark" text_align="left" overlay_strength="0.3" shape_divider_position="bottom" bg_image_animation="none"][vc_column column_padding="no-extra-padding" column_padding_position="all" background_color_opacity="1" background_hover_color_opacity="1" column_link_target="_self" column_shadow="none" column_border_radius="none" width="1/1" tablet_width_inherit="default" tablet_text_alignment="default" phone_text_alignment="default" column_border_width="none" column_border_style="solid" bg_image_animation="none"][vc_column_text]It was only a matter of time: as we have been worrying for months, Covid-19 has recently reached Dr. Ambrosoli Memorial Hospital, which recorded the first positive cases. This pandemic that is afflicting the world does not stop and does not spare anyone. Even in Uganda the situation is worsening: the data confirmed yesterday by the Ugandan Ministry of Health speak of 8,129 positive cases reported out of 480,037 swabs performed, while at the beginning of July the total cases were 935.

In Kalongo all the nine people infected have been immediately hospitalized in the isolation unit and two of them have been referred to Gulu Regional Referral Hospital, the regional hospital of Gulu, as per government protocol. Now we await the outcome of the tests done on their families and on the 171 members of the hospital staff, to try and understand the entity of the emergency in progress.

Dr. Smart, CEO of Kalongo hospital and member of the district task force put in place to prevent the pandemic, confided to us with concern the fear that the cases registered in the hospital represent only the tip of the iceberg and that those affected by the virus could be in reality many more. It is in fact very likely that numbers do not describe the actual circulation of the virus in the country.

In fact, what he fears the most is that people hospitalized for other diseases may escape from the hospital for fear of contracting the virus. In Kalongo malaria, anaemia, HIV and all other diseases have not left the hospital to make way for Covid-19: on the contrary, such diseases facilitate its entry or increase the difficulty of diagnosis. Just think of the epidemic peaks of malaria that always affect the country with the rainy season: with the impossibility of promptly testing all those who have a fever - the first symptom of malaria - making accurate diagnoses becomes difficult, if not impossible.

The concern is great, we have all seen what the virus can do, and in a context of great fragility such as Kalongo, where health challenges are on the agenda and there are multiple needs, one cannot help but wonder what impact the Covid will have on the hospital and on the local population, already so vulnerable.

If the hospital is currently equipped to manage this first phase of the emergency we owe it to those who continue to support the Foundation even in these difficult months: we have managed to deliver health and safety devices to the hospital for the fight against Covid.

It becomes essential to raise the level of safety and support the hospital in its daily needs, such as the salaries of the health personnel, whose regular and continuous presence is extremely important for the care of adults and children, especially now that they cannot count on the support of Italian volunteer doctors or of the students of the midwifery school. As well as contributing to the purchase of drugs and tools necessary to make accurate diagnosis, prevention and to provide essential therapies to save the greatest number of people.

Let us not leave them alone. Thanks for what you can do![/vc_column_text][divider line_type="No Line" custom_height="50"][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row type="in_container" full_screen_row_position="middle" scene_position="center" text_color="dark" text_align="left" overlay_strength="0.3" shape_divider_position="bottom" bg_image_animation="none"][vc_column column_padding="no-extra-padding" column_padding_position="all" background_color_opacity="1" background_hover_color_opacity="1" column_link_target="_self" column_shadow="none" column_border_radius="none" width="1/1" tablet_width_inherit="default" tablet_text_alignment="default" phone_text_alignment="default" column_border_width="none" column_border_style="solid" bg_image_animation="none"][/vc_column][/vc_row]

While in the West we are slowly preparing for Phase 2, in other countries Covid19 is spreading. According to WHO, there are over 31,000 cases of coronavirus registered in Africa. In the last 11 days there have been 21 thousand new cases, with an average of 600 new infections per day. So far 1,400 victims have been reported. "The end of the pandemic is still faraway and we are worried about the growing trends, for example in Africa," said the director of the Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus Organization. This is why experts from all over the world have been raising the alarm for weeks: in the event of a wide spread of Covid-19 in Africa, the risk of catastrophe is high. A humanitarian, health and economic catastrophe.
Dr. Smart's words highlight the concreteness of the work that the hospital is carrying out today and of its role in the prevention of the pandemic in Northern Uganda, the unique and main weapon to fight the spread of the disease.[/vc_column_text][divider line_type="No Line" custom_height="50"][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row type="in_container" full_screen_row_position="middle" scene_position="center" text_color="dark" text_align="left" overlay_strength="0.3" shape_divider_position="bottom" bg_image_animation="none"][vc_column column_padding="no-extra-padding" column_padding_position="all" background_color_opacity="1" background_hover_color_opacity="1" column_link_target="_self" column_shadow="none" column_border_radius="none" width="1/1" tablet_width_inherit="default" tablet_text_alignment="default" phone_text_alignment="default" column_border_width="none" column_border_style="solid" bg_image_animation="none"][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row type="in_container" full_screen_row_position="middle" scene_position="center" text_color="dark" text_align="left" overlay_strength="0.3" shape_divider_position="bottom" bg_image_animation="none"][vc_column column_padding="no-extra-padding" column_padding_position="all" background_color_opacity="1" background_hover_color_opacity="1" column_link_target="_self" column_shadow="none" column_border_radius="none" width="1/1" tablet_width_inherit="default" tablet_text_alignment="default" phone_text_alignment="default" column_border_width="none" column_border_style="solid" bg_image_animation="none"][vc_video link="https://youtu.be/7pifsa2IzrQ" el_width="60"][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row type="in_container" full_screen_row_position="middle" scene_position="center" text_color="dark" text_align="left" overlay_strength="0.3" shape_divider_position="bottom" bg_image_animation="none"][vc_column column_padding="no-extra-padding" column_padding_position="all" background_color_opacity="1" background_hover_color_opacity="1" column_link_target="_self" column_shadow="none" column_border_radius="none" width="1/1" tablet_width_inherit="default" tablet_text_alignment="default" phone_text_alignment="default" column_border_width="none" column_border_style="solid" bg_image_animation="none"][vc_column_text]At the base of the commitment that the hospital is tenaciously carrying out with us, is the great generosity and sense of responsibility of many people who connects Italy with Uganda and Africa.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]

[vc_row type="in_container" full_screen_row_position="middle" scene_position="center" text_color="dark" text_align="left" overlay_strength="0.3" shape_divider_position="bottom" bg_image_animation="none"][vc_column column_padding="no-extra-padding" column_padding_position="all" background_color_opacity="1" background_hover_color_opacity="1" column_link_target="_self" column_shadow="none" column_border_radius="none" width="1/1" tablet_width_inherit="default" tablet_text_alignment="default" phone_text_alignment="default" column_border_width="none" column_border_style="solid" bg_image_animation="none"][vc_column_text]Infections in Africa are increasing day by day, this is the alarm raised by the director of the International Committee of the Red Cross for Africa about the devastating consequences for the population that the pandemic can cause on the continent. Also Uganda has not been spared despite the restrictive measures imposed by the government: the number of people suffering from coronavirus has risen to 61, there are only 12 intensive care units across the Country, with a total of 55 beds.

Medical and health staff in Kalongo is working hard on the emergency plan to deal with the epidemic with the support of the Foundation and the Italian doctors who have returned to Italy; the pediatrician Tito Squillaci is on the front line.

The main problems that the hospital has to face are: on the one hand preventing the infection of the healthcare professionals considering the extremely limited availability of personal protective equipment; on the other hand avoiding the contagion among the patients, since carrying out swabs is almost impossible and there is a constant need to nurse patients suffering from pneumonia and breathing difficulties due to other diseases, especially in the pediatric ward. Guaranteeing oxygen supply becomes crucial, as the number of concentrators is not enough even under normal conditions.

There is no intensive care in Kalongo nor can it be set up because of the need of expensive and scarcely available equipment, but above all because of the lack of qualified staff.
The plan must be implemented with extreme urgency, as Dr. Tito Squillaci points out, without waiting for the first case to reach Kalongo. The virus can begin to spread in the community about 7-10 days before the first patient is detected. At the time of the first reliable diagnosis, the epidemic may already be out of control.
We should not forget that Dr. Ambrosoli Memorial Hospital is the only reference health center for an area populated by more than 500,000 people and where there is no other real treatment, a lifeline for the population of Agago district and the 6 neighboring districts.

Kalongo hospital has been identified as Hub Covid, the district reference centre for suspected cases and for the treatment of moderate cases, while the most serious ones should be referred to hospitals equipped with intensive care beds. Dr. Godfrey Smart, a surgeon and CEO of the hospital, is a part of the district task force for the Covid emergency.
The Ministry of Health has also established an outreach plan, which requires the hospital lab technician to carry out the swab at home. A decentralization plan is also being developed for the analysis of the evaluations, that are examined today by the Uganda Virus Research Institute of Kampala for which Kalongo hospital would become the district reference hub also for the analysis.

The alert is therefore very high, because differently from our hospitals that have the means, equipment and resources, although they are struggling, Kalongo hospital will have to fight the battle against Covid19 with bare hands and everything will be played on prevention.

The Foundation works making every effort to guarantee equipment, protective devices and medications to support the hospital and the local population; we are worried above all for those people suffering from malnutrition and HIV, hepatitis, that have a very weak immune system and are more exposed to the risk of contracting the virus.
Any contribution is essential to avoid the spread of the pandemic in an area that has always lived in the daily emergency.
Do not leave them alone.[/vc_column_text][divider line_type="No Line" custom_height="50"][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row type="in_container" full_screen_row_position="middle" scene_position="center" text_color="dark" text_align="left" overlay_strength="0.3" shape_divider_position="bottom" bg_image_animation="none"][vc_column column_padding="no-extra-padding" column_padding_position="all" background_color_opacity="1" background_hover_color_opacity="1" column_link_target="_self" column_shadow="none" column_border_radius="none" width="1/1" tablet_width_inherit="default" tablet_text_alignment="default" phone_text_alignment="default" column_border_width="none" column_border_style="solid" bg_image_animation="none"][vc_gallery type="flexslider_style" images="8498,8488,8486" onclick="link_no"][/vc_column][/vc_row]

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