Saved by the Amref Health truck during the COVID -19 Lock down in Amuru District

Many  health services were interrupted during the lockdown in Uganda.  Lack of transport means  for expectant mothers was among the major challenges Uganda faced.  Here is a story of one of the women in the rural  district of Amuru who was saved by the  Amref Truck.

Aloyo Paska lives in Lamola village, Coke Parish, Lamogi Sub County. She lives with her father In law Michael, her husband Peter lives and works in Nwoya district neighboring Amuru District. Paska’s does not have any source of income, she fully depends on her father – In- law and digging other people’s gardens for a small fee for survival.

It was a normal day for Aloyo Paska aged 20 years old.  She left early for the shamba, while there, she developed labor pains. This served a warning to her but she did not take it seriously.

On that day, Amref Health Africa project staff, was driving through her village disseminating COVID-19 Preventive messages using laud speakers mounted onto the Amref truck. The Amref driver and the Health Assistant saw an old man weaving his hand gesturing for the truck to stop.

The project staff stopped to attend to him. The old man looked anxious and requested for a lift to take to her daughter in law to the nearby health facility for delivery for she was already having labor pains. She was taken to Kaladima HCIII at around 3.30pm and was handed over to the a Midwife called Caroline.

Paska delivered a bouncing baby and named him Christopher at 8:00pm the same day on May 7, 2020. Paska was in labor for almost 8 1/2 hours. It was a long labor but after delivering a healthy baby boy she was all smiles and appreciated the support provided by Amref.

She delivered in a maternity ward that was renovated by Amref, the environment was conducive for both the Midwife , the mother and her new born child. She continued to be thankful to the Amref staff who hindered to her Father In law’s request for transport.

“I had no hope to reach the health facility, since it is not easy to find a Boda- Boda ried during the COVID-19 lockdown. The district taskforce team shared ambulance numbers to call for every health facility. I could not call because none of us has a phone at home. I thought I would deliver from home supported by my mother In-law. I knew that this could be dangerous for me and my baby as we were told during the Antenatal care visits (Paska Oloyo).

The Amref driver Issa Yakhout and Project Manager Margaret Mugisa followed her up to check out how the mother and baby were and gave the mother a few masks

A hand that gives is the hand that receives – A case of Amuru district

Amuru District COVID-19 Taskforce receiving an assortment of items worth 12,000,000 Uganda shillings from Amref Health Africa.  Margret Mugisa the Project manager handed over all the items to the COVID-19 Taskforce in Amref district.  Amref Health Africa  in Uganda is represented at the National COVID-19 taskforce  and the district level taskforces in the  districts were we work.

Amref Health Africa

Amref Health Africa teams up with African communities to create lasting health change.