📷 Rotary District 9214 Governor-elect roots for maternal, child health

KAMPALA - The newly installed District 9214 Governor in charge of Uganda and Tanzania, Christine Kyeyune Kawooya, has appealed to fellow governors and clubs to join her efforts in procuring neonatal incubators lacking in many Neonatal Intensive Care Units (NICUs) across the two countries.

Kawooya, who was last week installed governor for District 9214 for the year 2025/2026 in Dar es Salaam, says she is focusing on several projects, but top of the agenda is changing the face of Maternal and Child Health (MCH) in Uganda and Tanzania.

She said many major health facilities lack the required machines for saving the lives of mainly premature babies.

Kawooya said many major health facilities lack the required machines for saving the lives of mainly premature babies. (All Photos by Eddie Ssejjoba)

In her recent visit to Kawempe Referral Hospital in Kampala city and Entebbe Grade B hospital in Wakiso district, Kawooya said she was shocked to discover what she termed as the dire situation of the NICU.

She explained that instead of 11 incubators at Kawempe, the facility has only five, and the rest of the electric sockets are empty.

“The situation in Kawempe Hospital, which is the biggest and referral neonatal facility, is in such a dire situation, three babies sharing one incubator, and health workers lacking other vital items to protect the lives of the little ones,” she said.

Kawooya was Thursday, May 15 speaking at her home-coming organised by her mother club, the Rotary Club of Muyenga Tankhill in Kampala city, where she is a charter President and a member of the club. The function was attended by several governors, including Emmanuel Katongole, who was elected in December 2024 as Rotary International Director (RID) for Zone 22 (Africa). 

Kawooya speaking for the first time to her club since her installment, said in the year 2022/23, the club provided tricycle village ambulances to facilitate expectant mothers arrive faster and safely at a nearby health facility, and were looking at the phase of training midwives and nurses that attend to the mothers on arrival at the health centre.

“The person who receives the mother when she arrives at the health centre should have the ability to understand what she needs, which calls for their training,” she said, adding that the Rotary Foundation had already provided funds to do the training.

The third phase, she said, was to equip the midwives and nurses who assess the mothers to have the ability to provide the required treatment.

“But beyond that, we still lack the vital equipment like incubators and simple machines that help to enlarge the lungs of neonates to enable them to breathe. Kawooya told Rotarians that she was passionate about MCH because she went through the process, and if the health facility did not have the equipment, she would not have survived.

“I focus on Maternal Child Health because I stayed in hospital for six months after birth, and if the facility did not have the equipment I don’t think I would have survived to be able to take change back to the communities,” she said, adding that it was her motivation to give back to the community.

“I appeal to you to join me in this journey as we get these hospitals equipped with the right machines to be able to save many babies so that we can help many more important people like me or Rotarian Katongole and others,” she said.

According to Kawooya, on July 9, the district would launch the Rotary year and appealed to the Governors and Rotarians in general to come together to buy the required incubators, saying for Kawempe, the target was six this year.

In addition, she said, she was pushing to establish a home for the ‘Start With Her’ project, which will empower teenage girls who conceive while in school and have safe spaces.

She explained that in such spaces, the girls can look after their babies and later get trained in life skills or be assisted to return to school. 

Other issues on her agenda are encouraging clubs to grow memberships, innovation, sustainability, creating partnerships and asking club presidents to take a lead.   

“Rotary Club Presidents are leaders and should create a good environment to enable members to stay. Our Rotary International director has talked about engagement, with you I will expect and going to ensure that members are engaged and can attend fellowships,” she explained, stressing that the focus should be on engaging, attracting and retaining members.

The function was attended by Rotarians from clubs in the 9213 and 9214 districts, including Buziga, Muyenga, Bwebajja, Kigo, Nsambya, Naalya, Munyonyo, among others. 

The Rotary Club of Muyenga Tankhill President, Godfrey Kivumbi, said it was nice having Kawooya come back to her mother club first before visiting other clubs where she is expected to spread her message in her year that starts on July 1, 2025.   

“But most importantly, we were rejuvenated to start a new year and support our new governor in all her programs because she would need a strong foundation for her club before she could go to other clubs,” he noted.

“We are honoured as a club to have a governor because there are over 120 clubs in the District and can only get one governor in a year”.

“We are a young club of six years, and for us to get a governor at this time is a big testament to the kind of leadership we are grooming. We are confident that she will do a wonderful job”. 

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Below is a picture highlight  from the function as captured by multimedia journalist Eddie Ssejjoba;