Singer Moses Ssali aka Bebe Cool has been granted Shs 1.4 billion (US$ 400,000) to find missing TB patients within the districts of Kampala, Jinja and Mbarara.
The 1.4 billion has been availed through his newly founded nonprofit organisation ‘The Amber Heart Foundation’ by Stop TB Partnership’s TB REACH initiative at a ceremony that took place in Ho Chi Mihn City, Vietnam. The TB REACH initiative is funded by the Government of Canada and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.
According to Bebe Cool, the grant is a result of a vigorous application exercise that saw The Amber Heart Foundation triumph over 600 applications that had to be chosen from all over the world.
“This is a great boost to my charity efforts. For years I have been undertaking different charity works at my personal expense, it feels great when someone else recognizes such efforts and decides to chip in. This is a great boast for our health care system,” he said.
He said over 80,000 Ugandans die of Tuberculosis annually yet the disease is treatable in all government facilities moreover for free. It is also absurd that many of my fellow Ugandans do not know the symptoms of TB and never think to get screened or tested until it is too late and they have passed it on to their loved ones.
“The Amber Heart Foundation using this grant comes in to feel the gap of awareness and mobilization of people for testing and treatment,” he said.
Bebe Cool was last year appointed Uganda’s Tuberculosis Ambassador and he has been engaging in many charitable activities under Amber Heart Foundation and last year he donated over Shs 60 million from his concert towards the treatment of children with heart defects.
