How does an NGO combine sustainable energy with family planning and reproductive health services? It can only happen in Africa, where there’s serious demand for both. Pathfinder International’s integrated programs in Uganda are helping to kill two giant birds with one stone. Remote Bussi Island, in Lake Victoria, is home to a number of small fishing communities. The island has little infrastructure and is not connected to the national grid. Most people use small paraffin (kerosene) lamps to see at night, provided they can afford to buy the paraffin. Pathfinder, who has been working to improve maternal health and increase access to family planning services on the island for several years, knew that nurses and other health care workers struggled to carry out essential services once the sun set. Solar-generated electricity became the solution for Bussi’s Health Center as well as other health centers in the country. Above, a woman[…]
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Our Growing Numbers | Accessible Contraception in East Africa
As unemployment remains high and the region’s resources are rapidly being swallowed up by the booming population, family planning is something that every family should consider here in East Africa. In Amuria, Uganda where I live, 57% of all people are under the age of 17. When one compares that to my home town of Richmond, Virginia, in the US, that number falls to 22%. Uganda’s youthful population of 32 million has nearly doubled in the past twenty years. It has one of the highest growth rates in the world. If the current trends stay on track, the country will be home to more than more than 130 million people by 2050. I’ve recently been working with PSI, Population Services International, in Tanzania and Uganda. PSI works in a number of areas in Global Health, but I’ve been specifically documenting their family planning services here in East Africa. Working in[…]
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