Due to the glaring gap, Family Medical Point has stepped up its fight against unsafe abortion at Kigungu landing site.
Made up of the four villages of Kigungu Central, Mayanzi, Misori, and Old Entebbe, the landing site is home to over 70,000 people. On average, more than 1000 people land on and off from Kigungu to various islands in Lake Victoria and major towns around Entebbe and Kampala.
Located behind Entebbe airport, the Kigungu landing site is home to tens of sex workers. Despite the presence of government health facilities, access to reproductive health services is still a big challenge in the community. Despite the scarcity of condoms at the landing site, at least five women are reported to experience unsafe abortions every month.
According to family medical points, in the HIV test conducted at Kigungu, 40 percent of the population in Kigungu has HIV/AIDS.
Enock Cedikol, project manager for Care Plus at Family Medical Point, said Kigungu is one of the hardest-to-reach areas, full of people who basically have low income. We try to bring broad services to people who cannot afford expensive services.
He noted that as they try to prevent deaths caused by unsafe abortions, there are reproductive health challenges such as urinary tract infections, gonorrhoea, and syphilis. As a facility and a project, we are also tackling challenges related to women and men.
“If a woman gets an unsafe abortion, the least price to manage it is Shs 150,000; therefore, it becomes very expensive for people that are living at the landing site. So, we come to bridge that gap,” he said.
“We have been here for about two years, and each year we target reaching 5000 people. At the medical camps, we offer HIV tests, urinalysis, pregnancy tests, and family counselling to prevent unsafe abortions and other consultations related to reproductive health,” he stated.
According to Meddie Meddie, a member of the Village Health Team (VHT) at the landing site, they experienced a scarcity of condoms. The biggest population at the landing site is fishermen, who reportedly have no access to condoms, and the few who get them sell them at a high cost.
He applauded the family medical point for bringing the highly needed services closer to them and decried the continuous stock out of drugs at government health facilities.
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