MMI Rushes Life-Saving Aid to TB Victims in Uganda

To help Ugandan doctors counter the exploding TB epidemic in Africa, Medical Mission International is supporting an experimental programme in Mbuya near Kampala.  “Reach Out Mbuya” – a TB and HIV/AIDS prevention and treatment organisation – is the MMI MedNet Programme Partner in Uganda.

Tuberculosis (TB) kills more than 500,000 people and infects 2.3 million more in Africa every year according to the World Health Organisation (WHO). More people who get TB die from it in Africa than in any other WHO region, partially due to the HIV/AIDS crisis. More than 35-40% of the patients in the Mbuya programme have both TB and HIV/AIDS.

The “Reach Out Mbuya” programme is based on a well-established strategy known as DOTS (the internationally recommended TB control strategy). First developed in Tanzania in the 1980’s, it uses community health workers and volunteers to support the patients and make sure they are fed and taking their medications until they are cured.

DOTS is critical for not only treating TB but for organizing a community health programme in Uganda that will help the country administrate the retroviral drugs required for treating HIV. 

The MMI funds are used to assist community volunteers who visit the sick and help provide food, medicine and educational services.  The founding medical director of “Reach Out Mbuya” is Dr. Margrethe Juncker and the project director is Joseph Archetti of the Mbuya Parish.