Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 2008. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.
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New Vision (Kampala) - September 30, 2008
Joseph Wanzusi
The five-year project is funded by US-based Baylor College of Medicine Children's Foundation. The beneficiary districts are Budaka, Bududa, Butaleja, Busia, Pallisa, Manafwa, Sironko, Amuria, Kumi, Kamuli, Bugiri in eastern and Mukono in the central region.
The project manager, Suzan Kelly, said with financial support from the American President Emergency Programme for AIDS Relief, Baylor would strengthen health centres to provide treatment through anti-retroviral therapy clinics.
She was speaking after a two-day regional review meeting in Livingstone Hotel in Mbale last week.
Kelly said the money will be used for training of health workers and to secure equipment such as weighing scales, tape measures, thermometers and otoscopes, used to check the ear.
She said in a survey conducted in 32 health centres, only 50% offered paediatric HIV services.
Kelly added that the equipment would be procured and distributed to all health centres to improve care for HIV-positive children.
The project coordinator, Dr. Patrick Bukoma, said the success of the programme would depend on team work among local leaders, health workers and the community.
He advised the beneficiaries to open bank accounts before starting to receive the funds.
After the team's visit to Pallisa Hospital to establish how health workers handled children living with HIV, the regional project coordinator, Dr. Crispus Tegu, said some laboratory technicians were on duty without gowns while the pharmacy room was leaking.
According to WHO, there are over 100,000 children living with HIV/AIDS in Uganda; 47,000 of whom are in need.
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