Maternity ward
Seeing the light of day is one of the most beautiful moments and that is why we were able to create our maternity ward in 2014 as part of our “Born to Live” project. In Uganda, maternal and child mortality is very high; many mothers are HIV-positive, often extremely young or considered “high-risk pregnant women” for various reasons. It is therefore particularly important to us as the Lichtstrahl Uganda team to support these women during pre- and post-natal care and during delivery. In our maternity ward we also guarantee 24-hour care, ultrasound diagnostics, HIV screening, initial immunization of the newborn and a hygiene start-up kit for mother and baby. All of these measures are also subject to a fee in Uganda and that is why many women give birth in their huts or on the way. A culturally not very easy topic is the “topic of family planning”. We try to sensitize both women and men to this, educate them and offer them various contraceptive methods. Your donations make it possible for us to offer all gynecological care free of charge to EVERY woman.
Maternal crisis center
Every woman who comes to our maternity crisis center brings her own story with her. Stories of rape, abuse, mistreatment or being rejected by family. Due to the long civil war in northern Uganda, many people are traumatized by war and the original stable coexistence of different generations in the hut association is often difficult. As unfortunately always happens in life, it affects the people who have the least voice and these are often poor people, vulnerable women and young girls who were never able to attend school and became pregnant through rape or a lack of education. This often creates family problems, because every additional child means an additional burden, especially for families that are already very poor, and therefore these women are often pushed out of their homes. You can come to us, we have a team of qualified midwives from the maternity ward and social workers who record the background of each mother, verify it and we, as a light beam team, support their individual fates through a wide range of support.
Medical center including laboratory
At our medical center, we offer basic medical care and treatment 24/7, as well as all necessary laboratory tests. Normally, medical care in Uganda is subject to a fee, but it is particularly important to us that EVERY patient is treated and that is why our care is free. In our laboratory we can carry out a wide variety of tests, from pregnancy tests to HIV tests, urine analyses and tuberculosis tests. All patients who need to be treated for several days are admitted to our inpatient area. With our all-terrain ambulance we have the option of picking up patients from the bush at any time, for example, and transferring them to a hospital if necessary.
Vaccination base/dental area and one-dollar glasses:
Vaccination base:
At our vaccination base we offer all vaccinations free of charge. In this way we want to be a ray of light for even the most vulnerable families and children and give them hope for a healthier future. In order to improve the health of many children and reduce the spread of preventable diseases as much as possible, educational work on this is particularly important to us, not only in our medical and maternity ward, but also directly on site in the bush.
Dental area:
There are only a few dentists in Uganda, which has various causes, such as a lack of training opportunities, a lack of infrastructure and excessive tuition fees. Access to dental care is very difficult, especially in the bushland, which leads to a high incidence of dental diseases such as caries and gum disease. With our dental area, we have the opportunity to provide educational and preventive work, carry out emergency treatments, as well as tooth cleaning, X-ray examinations and dental treatments (e.g. fillings, root canal treatment, extractions).