Rotary International President Dr. Jennifer Jones has arrived in the country to tour projects that have brought impact on communities.
Jones who is on a one-week tour code-named “Imagine Impact” will visit various initiatives undertaken by Rotary in Uganda and launch new projects.
While in the country, Jones will flag off the Rotary Cancer Run on Sunday at Kololo Grounds, visit Mulago Heart Institute and the Peace Centre at Makerere University.
While addressing the media at Entebbe International Airport on Wednesday, Jones also talked about the success stories in Pakistan and Zambia which she has so far visited as part of the “Imagine Tour” and is hopeful that Uganda has made great strides too.
She attributes the above achievements to the generosity and efforts of the organization’s 1.4 million members across 200 countries.
Jones cited the Russia-Ukraine war, now in its fifth month, where Rotarians across the globe have so far contributed 15 million US Dollars to the Disaster Response Fund. she says 6 million US Dollars have so far been released to Rotarians in Ukraine to extend medical and humanitarian aid to conflict-affected people in Ukraine and the neighboring countries.
Jones will also launch new projects including the Basic Education and Literacy Enhancement Program is also known locally as BELEP and the Maternal Village Ambulance Programme.
Rotary plans to enhance children’s literacy skills while at home and school, donate one million story books to Universal Primary Education (UPE) schools, sponsor 100 teachers to upgrade, and provide sanitary pads and other requirements in the BELEP initiative.
Peace Taremwa, the Governor of Rotary District 9214 which comprises Uganda and Tanzania says 3 billion shillings have been injected into the maternal village ambulance program.
Taremwa explained that the maternal tri-cycle ambulances project was based on a needs assessment carried out by Rotarians in Uganda which observed that the leading cause of maternal mortality is the difficulty in accessing maternity facilities due to the distance between homesteads and health centres.
Taremwa is optimistic that the project will ease transport for mothers to maternity facilities at various health center IVs in the country and reduce the maternal mortality rate which stood at 336 deaths per 100,000 in 2016. This rate is higher than the World Health Organization-WHO’s worldwide target of 70,000 deaths per 100,000 live births.
He says Rotarians in Uganda want to also equip 170 health facilities with beds and basic first aid items, starting with those in Wakiso, Kabale, and Kabarole in this financial year.
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