Greetings! With extremely busy year coming to an end, we look forward for more information about ways you can engage deeper with us. We are inspired to be the organization that is effectively making a difference in the lives of people in Uganda, Africa. Karin Community Initiatives seeks to improve the socio-economic well-being of vulnerable and orphaned children, families and the whole community through primary health care and other community development initiatives, in order to find a way out of poverty. We are responsible and have taken the approach of understanding the community needs. We empower communities to meet the needs of the children. And we work with families and household members in the community to enable them access quality health care services. Would you join us in this effort? Please respond by writing a check to the address below. Updates From KCIU 1. Discover what is happening at the Karin Medical Centres We care about healthcare because we want these children to grow up in a community where their needs are met. We want their biggest struggle to be the choice of what to study at university, not the struggle against preventable disease. 2. Looking for something adventurous? Our volunteers play an integral role in the growth and success of our permanent medical facilities - referring patients, training staff, and reintroducing the value of healthcare into regions where it was formerly lost. Whether you joined us to help build the medical center/maternity unit, provided training and mentorship, your impact will live for decades through your investment in quality, affordable care. We couldn't do it without you. 3. Connecting and empowering the communities. KCIU works with the communities to support them in their micro enterprises. 1. Discover what is happening in the Karin Medical Centres Malaria Outbreak in Gulu This morning was no different at the clinics, there were several mothers waiting in a long queue with their children and other patients many suffering from malaria. The clinic in-charges Benna and Winnie says that the health centres require urgent supply of antimalarial drugs such as IV fluids, additional human resources to be able to effectively contain the current outbreak. The last three months have seen a rise in the number patients seeking treatment for malaria. Reports indicate that various health facilities in Northern Uganda and 22,873 cases have registered. The Karin Health Centres have not been an exception, the whole team has been busy trying to attend to several severe cases especially children under five years old. According to Dr, Okui Albert, the program manager, Malaria control Program, the climate in northern Uganda encourages the propagation of the vector. He says that there are plans to eliminate the epidemic; it will take some time because of the limited resources. "The challenge is that people are lax about sleeping under mosquito nets," says Dr Aceng. She says that many Ugandans need to understand that malaria treatment and prevention requires a set of interventions like sleeping under mosquito nets, seeking medical care and adherence to medication. According to the Ministry of Health, Uganda, 307 people still die per day due to malaria related ailments. The health centre out-patient department and laboratory are crowded with long queues of patients seeking malaria treatment. Winnie says that the situation worsens every day. She says that with the wards with only 10 beds has up to 40 children aged below 12 years, some with severe malaria. She adds that we cannot not admit but refer all the severe cases to other health facilities that are also facing similar challenges. Maternity ward construction! In our last report, we shared the impact your support had made on our Maternity work in 2014. The antenatal clinic has grown from 5 to 8 mothers attending antenatal services, we are now attending to over 40 mothers. This time, we wanted to encourage you to make a difference in the maternal care! We reported about the construction of the maternity ward and appealed to many of you to support its construction. We do not want to give the mothers an opportunity to attend antenatal only for them to look for another place for delivery. The maternity ward once complete will serve many areas including delivery, monitoring expectant mothers who would otherwise not be able to stay at home due to complications of pregnancy etc. The individual lives you have supported us to serve and save is incredible, but the need remains urgent. Just a few weeks ago, Sylvia, a young 18 year old mother was bought to the health centre, because she could not walk any further to the next health facility, she had spent the whole night in labour because there was no transport in the middle of the night. Being the nearest health facility in the parish, the village health team rushed her to the health centre hoping that she could deliver here. Our team realised that this was too complicated to handle in the facility, and she was immediately rushed to the next facility. However, the severe delays in transferring the mother and baby can live the baby or the mother in a critical state. We feel that a mother should not die giving life, nor should the baby die because its mother could not access health care! We can avoid these situations with your support, by completing the maternity ward. And ensuring that its equipped and managed by well-trained medical professionals. 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