UHMG marks 10 years

Sep 29, 2016

Uganda Health Marketing Group (UHMG) is an indigenous social marketing organisation with a dream to deliver a Good Life which is good health to all Ugandans. UHMG works closely with the Ministry of Health and is guided by the national health policies and frameworks. Established in October 2006, UHMG marks 10 years next month.

We are in Uganda to stay, says Tamale

Uganda Health Marketing Group (UHMG) is an indigenous social marketing organisation with a dream to deliver a Good Life which is good health to all Ugandans. UHMG works closely with the Ministry of Health and is guided by the national health policies and frameworks. Established in October 2006, UHMG marks 10 years next month. Joyce Tamale, the executive director, says to celebrate this milestone UHMG will roll out several interventions aimed at increasing access to and utilisation of health products and services using private sector approaches. The planned events will entail a health camp targeting over 5,000 people, a social marketing conference to discuss sustainable health markets in Uganda. Below is the interview.

 oyce amale Joyce Tamale

Who is Joyce Tamale?

I am a Chartered Certified Accountant, a fellow of ACCA with a wealth of experience and skills in organisational development, governance and social marketing. I belong to a number of professional bodies but prominently; ACCA-UK where I serve as the chairperson for the ACCA members in Uganda. I have an incredible reserve of positive energy, and I work to serve people.

What is UHMG?

UHMG was founded 10 years ago by like-minded professionals who saw a need to support the Government's efforts in arresting the disease burden in Uganda. We are a partner of the Ministry of Health, committed to contribute towards the reduction of the disease burden among targeted population mainly the rural areas, where majority (80%) of Ugandans live.

We focus on promoting good health through social and behavior change communications, end mile distribution to increase accessibility as a social marketing mandate, promoting use and increased utilisation of health products and services. UHMG's expertise is in four areas: social marketing, supply chain management, health communication and private sector engagement via franchising.

How much have you achieved in that period?

At the inception of UHMG, health indicators in Uganda were distressing across the board. UHMG has intervened in areas of HIV/ AIDS, sexual and reproductive health, maternal and child health and malaria.

UHMG contributed immensely towards the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) specifically MDG 3, 4, and 5 and registered the following contributions: We have supported over 150 private clinics (the good life clinics) to improve their capacity and quality of health service delivery.

Over three million people have accessed services through the Good Life Clinic Network. UHMG established The Home of the Good Life in 2010, with an ISO certified warehousing facility of over 1,600 square metres. This has increased availability of essential health products in the country.

UHMG is the alternative distributor of reproductive health products for the private sector in the country on behalf of the Ministry of Health. This has enabled the distribution of over 222,059,380 pieces of male condoms, 8,763,517 pieces of female condoms, 2,683,630 vials of injectables (2012 to date).

The Good Life Platform has enabled Ugandans increase knowledge and self-efficacy to correct use of health products and services. At least 44% of the adult population has heard of the Good Life in the last six months.

Through social marketing, we have achieved a sizeable market share of the HIV prevention and family planning products sponsored by USAID (Protector- 60%, Pilplanplus- Above 80% and injectaplan, which is one of the most used injectable in the country.

Over 53 million protector condoms have been sold at subsidised prices. UHMG has averted over 2,800,000 million disabilityadjusted life years (DALYs). We have created a portfolio of life saving commodities like oral rehydrated salts, zinc, emergency contraceptives, Aquasafe water treatment tablets and other essential drugs.

UHMG has built competencies in grant management, having managed grants for USAID, UNFPA, DFID and Global Fund. We have managed to avert over 4,000,000 million unplanned pregnancies through the sale and distribution of family planning commodities and services.

UHMG has prevented the deaths of over 3,500 children through the distribution of over five million sachets of ORS (Restors) and over twenty million tablets of zinc (Zinkid). UHMG has responded to malaria prevention through distribution of mosquito nets and social marketing of RDTs.

Over one million mosquito nets have been distributed. UHMG has received numerous awards, especially on social marketing. In 2015, the Annual Award for excellence in health communication in Africa for social marketing

How have you managed to achieve this?

UHMG does not work in isolation; we have built a big stakeholder network who support our work as we increase access and utilisation of health care products and services to over 12 million Ugandans annually. Some of our key development partners include USAID, who have given us a very strong foundation since inception, we are proud to be supported by the American people.

Other key partners include the Government of Uganda, Department for International Development (DFID), United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), Global Fund, Civil Society Fund and corporate organisations. UHMG has a number of implementing partners such as EGPAF, The AIDS Support Organisation (TASO), World Vision, FHI360, PACE, Harvard School of Public Health, the Uganda Family Planning Consortium members and private health practitioners.

Uganda has a youthful population as per the statistics. How is UHMG positioned to serve this target group?

The 2014 census shows that approximately 11.2 million people (over 32%) are between the ages of 10-24 years. Access to youth-friendly health services remains a challenge, and health indicators continue to be poor.

Despite interventions by the Government and other development partners to provide youth friendly services, creation of youth corners at all health centre IV's, the uptake of health services remains low, especially on HIV/AIDS and sexual reproductive health.

UHMG has been working with the private sector, where almost 60% of the population seeks health services first. UHMG has been running health campaigns targeting young people with flexible health services, such as the Bus Clinic, to meet the young people's needs.

The sexual reproductive health products are positioned in nontraditional outlets to enable the youth to access them. The increased use of social media is an indication that UHMG is determined to increase access to knowledge for young people. In July 2016, over 4 million people were reached through social media.

Where do you see UHMG in the next 10 years?

UHMG is here to stay and serve Ugandans. We have a five-year strategic plan ending 2019. The pledge is to contribute to the achievement of SDGs, especially 3, 5, 6 and 17. We will specifically reach out to the hard to reach areas of Uganda to improve access to and utilisation of health products and services within the targeted populations using a Total Market Approach.

Focus will be on integrated sexual reproductive health, integrated maternal child health and non-communicable diseases (life style diseases). UHMG will be known as the leading and sustainable indigenous social marketing organisation in Uganda, East Africa, Africa and beyond.

Uganda is one of the populous countries in the world, how will UHMG's interventions support the achievement of demographic dividend?

Uganda is one of the countries with highest population growth rate of 3.2%. With this rate, the country will struggle to harness the demographic dividend. UHMG being one of the implementers of family planning interventions will contribute in towards making Ugandans have manageable quality families though increased access, availability, choice and affordability.

 

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