US launches sh100bn project to boast health services in Northern Uganda

The US Agency for International Development(USAID) has today launched a $28.3m (about sh100m) project to strengthen health services in the Acholi region.

In a statement released by the mission today morning, the five year project dubbed  Regional Health Integration to Enhance Services in Northern Uganda, Acholi (RHITES-Acholi) activity is meant to enable districts in the beneficiary region to provide better medical services to Ugandans.

Northern  Uganda is still recovering from the impact of the over two decades of war which literally crippled the social service delivery in the region.

"Working with local partners, the RHITES-Acholi activity will increase health care provider availability, improve access to medications and commodities, promote effective equipment operation and maintenance, and improve management of health services." Reads the statement.
 Additionally, according to the statement, the activity will promote the adoption of healthy behaviors by raising awareness at the individual, provider, and community levels, with the goals of reducing delays in seeking care and lowering barriers to service usage.
The RHITES-Acholi project is being implemented by the  University Research Co. LLC, a global health organization.

The US government remains one of the biggest funders to Uganda's health sector disbursing approximately $500 million to the sector every year. This is despite fears that the new administration led by President Donald Trump had taken on key financial cuts in aid.