Health Department Jinja, Safiyya Nazarali BScN, CIC, MPH Schulich Interfaculty Program in Public Health Schulich School of Medicine & Dentistry, Western University, London, ON, Canada

Jinja Jinja District Health Department Prevention of Mother to Child Transmission

Jinja district is located in Eastern Central Uganda The Jinja District Health Office manages the health Prevention of mother to child transmission (PMTCT) is approximately 80km from , the capital city. It is facilities within the sub districts and consists of 11 part of a global initiative to eliminate new pediatric HIV surrounded by the districts of , and Buikwe. individuals forming the District Health Team (DHT). The infections. Although there has been progress in the Lake Victoria borders its south side, a popular tourist spot DHT’s focus ranges from HIV/AIDS, malaria, TB, health PMTCT services offered, a lot of effort is still needed. The known as the Source of the . education, biostatistics, health inspectors, records Ministry of Health in Uganda is working towards a less management, finance and monitoring/evaluation. The than 5% transmission rate from mothers to babies. DHT is responsible for a number of tasks including Currently, Jinja’s transmission rate is 15.7%. In order to providing technical support for the Health Sub-Districts, prevent the spread of HIV from mother to child, the World planning and performance reviews, surveillance and data Health Organization has come up with a 4-pronged collection, control of epidemics, health advocacy, approach; 1) prevent HIV in women of reproductive age, mobilization and allocation of resources for the health 2) prevent unintended pregnancy in women with HIV, 3) sector, monitoring performance of the district health prevent HIV transmission from mother to child and 4) system and preparing the budget for the district. provide ongoing care and support to mothers, their The population in Jinja is approximately 514,300 (Jinja children, and families (WHO, 2010).

District, 2014), of which approximately 80% live in rural While in Jinja, I worked on quality improvement initiatives areas (District Work plan, 2012/13). geared to reduce the transmission rate from mothers to

babies. Initiatives included improving documentation and

Health services are broken into four levels: national follow ups done for missed appointments. referral hospitals; regional referral hospitals; district hospitals; and health centres IV, III, II and I, which are non-structured and utilize village health teams (VHT). Within the sub-districts there are 54 government, 15 NGO or Private Not-for-Profit and 5 private facilities. (District This practicum experience allowed me to participate in a Work plan, 2012/13). number of different activities including health education, sensitization re: jiggers, severe malaria education, Yellow Star audits, support supervision at the various health Life After Work facilities as well as working with the various stakeholders. Uganda is a beautiful country and offers many unique site seeing opportunities including, Itanda Falls, the Source of the Nile and Murchison Falls National Park. If that’s not

Wakitaka Level III Hospital (private) enough, you’ll also be getting the best matoke around!

Buwenge Level IV