St. John Ambulance’s Mama na Mwana’ medical camp attracts over 600 patients

BUIKWE – The one-day edition of St. John Ambulance ‘Mama na Mwana’ medical camp that opened on February 19, 2025, at Butembe landing site, Nyenga Sub-County, Butembe village in Buikwe district attracted over 600 patients across the landing site.

Mama na Mwana (mother and child) project is an initiative of St. John Ambulance, which was started in Uganda to tackle high maternal and neonatal mortality rates.

Among the beneficiaries of the Wednesday health camp was Rachael Nalweyiso, a 24-year-old mother who came with her two children to take advantage of a medical outreach camp that offered free specialized and general consultation services.

Several services, namely antenatal care, HIV screening, diabetes, high blood pressure, nutritional care, dental services, consultancy on cancer, eye checkups, skin services, and epidemiology, were offered.

“I and my children have spent some days not feeling well, and we were planning to go to a health facility which is far away from our resident home. But then I had the local leaders and health volunteers announcing a health camp, and here we are. My children were mostly disturbed with malaria, flu, and cough, but thank God, they have now been treated, and we have also been given several drugs, which I couldn’t afford to buy on my own,” the smiling mother of two said.

Some of the mothers who turned up for the health camp.

According to Dr Joseph Kasirye, many health issues were found among the fishing community residents, insisting that the health camp was timely.

“If a woman reports early for antenatal, she will receive all the services which are available for the first and second trimesters, but those who come late miss a lot of services, and there are women who end up dying due to complications which were not picked within the first months, so let us always seek medics’ advisory on our pregnancies,” Kasirye told mothers who turned up for the camp.

The maternal mortality rate remains a burden in developing countries, and antenatal care is one of the key strategies for reducing maternal and neonatal morbidity and mortality directly through detection and treatment of pregnancy-related illness.

Hypertension and diabetes

The health camp coordinator, Justine Nakintu, said more patients this time had high blood pressure, while according to their laboratory tests, cases of diabetes were also high among the elderly.

She educated patients on dental care and showed them the proper way of brushing their teeth to avoid bleeding gums (gingivitis).

Nakintu also advised that to maintain good oral hygiene, one has to brush after every meal and take 6 to 10 minutes.