Polio: Strengthening Surveillance in the Expanded Program on Immunization for Vaccine Preventable Diseases (EPI)

Following the confirmation of a positive vaccine-derived polio virus sample in 2021, Walimu deployed surveillance officers to support the Community Health Departments in the Regional Referral Hospitals. They have investigated and verified over 800 acute flaccid paralysis cases, supervised 1,300 health workers and mentored 4,600 health workers, in order to build surveillance capacity for notifiable diseases. They also established and replicated district-based surveillance improvement plans, paving the weigh for better surveillance over time.

People served

People of Uganda

Funder

Ministry of Health

Clubfoot Program

In Uganda, for every 800 children born, one has a clubfoot. In 2022, 1.5m babies were born in Uganda. Out of these, 2,100 were born with clubfoot.

The aim of the Program is to ensure that every child born with clubfoot accesses quality treatment using the Ponseti method before their first birthday.

The Ministry of Health in collaboration with Walimu and other partners with funding from MiracleFeet aims at reaching at least 70% of children born with clubfoot by the end of 2026.
Beginning of 2023, only 40% of these children were reached. The program aims to bring the services closer to the communities where these children are born and live.

The plan is to integrate the Ponseti method into the healthcare delivery system so that all health facilities in Uganda can provide this service. In addition to introducing the Ponseti method in all Ugandan healthcare facilities, the program is targeting on creating awareness through working with Village Health Teams (VHTs) across the country. This will ensure early detection and referral.

The components of the program include; community engagement, awareness creation, provision of required supplies & logistics, capacity building among the health workers, parental engagement and psycho-social support, use of data in decision making.

People served

Children born with clubfoot

Funder

Miraclefeet