Samaritan’s Purse is serving communities in Uganda, where more than 140 confirmed cases of Ebola Hemorrhagic Fever have been reported since the outbreak was declared in September.
In Kampala and surrounding areas, we are providing healthcare workers with Infection Prevention and Control (IPC) trainings to bolster the capacity nationwide to care for Ebola patients and to prevent the infection from spreading. Our teams are working with medical staff at five national referral hospitals as well as at several medical facilities in the Kampala slums where Samaritan’s Purse already has a clinical capacity for treating and containing the deadly disease.
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We’re training about 40 local medical staff at each facility. In addition, our national staff are serving as both clinical and IPC mentors at the facilities where we are providing training.
“Samaritan’s Purse is privileged to partner with the Ministry of Health and Kampala Capital City Authority to work alongside healthcare facilities to strengthen measures that will break the chains of transmission for Ebola,” said Cindy Albertson, team lead in Uganda for this deployment. “These measures not only protect healthcare staff, but their patients and their communities.”
In Uganda, national and regional referral hospitals are the clearing house for all specialties and they receive many patients from Kampala and across the country. As these hospitals are not specific Ebola treatment facilities, they are experiencing critical gaps related to timely Ebola case identification, isolation, and referral. Less than 20 percent of healthcare facilities in Kampala currently meet the necessary IPC standards. Availability of Personal Protective Equipment for healthcare workers is also an ongoing issue.
A Samaritan’s Purse Disaster Assistance Response Team has been on the ground in Uganda since November working with local partners to provide the medical systems there with training and resources for quelling recent outbreaks and protecting communities from future threats.
Through these IPC trainings, our team is passing on firsthand knowledge we gained while working on the frontlines of Ebola outbreaks in countries such as Liberia and the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
“Please pray that the outbreak will soon be over in Uganda,” Cindy said. “Pray that the training will provide stronger capacity that is sustainable and enables Uganda to prepare for any future outbreak.”
Whether airlifting our Emergency Field Hospital to Italy in the wake of disease outbreak, or responding to earthquakes and armed conflict, Samaritan's Purse stands ready to respond in the face of a myriad of medical crises. Your gift will help bring expert treatment, other basic needs and the hope of the Gospel to the sick and suffering.