Just Care tackles the big problems in Uganda

Operation Uganda is a community project sponsored by Just Care and organised through Kings Church in Frodsham, Cheshire. This project involves collection of health and hygiene materials from the general public and unwanted medical goods and equipment from medical suppliers, NHS trusts and general practitioners. These goods are then shipped in a container to Uganda and distributed between the Wellspring clinics and Masaka and Kitovu Hospitals. In this, our second Operation Uganda project this year, we are collecting health and hygiene products and medical equipment which can be used in maternity and neonatal care.

Sadly, over 12,000 women die in child birth annually and an estimated 45,000 babies die within their first 4 weeks of life each year, in rural Uganda. Just Care, with the help of the Operation Uganda project, aims to reduce these risks and improve neonatal and maternal care in the region of Masaka, Uganda.

The NHS produces an average of 250,000 tonnes of waste a year at a cost of some £40+ million. A large proportion of this goes for disposal by alternative technologies or incineration, and a significant amount to landfill. A large proportion of this waste is simply slightly out of date but perfectly functional, equipment which is desperately needed in the third world, including Uganda. Much of the medical equipment and resources urgently required in Uganda are unaffordable or simply unobtainable but just seen as disposable waste” in the UK. We cannot afford to waste the worlds resources in this way.

An appeal has gone out to NHS trusts, private health facilities, GP surgeries and medical suppliers for donations of surplus medical equipment which can be used in the Wellspring, Masaka and Kitovu maternity units. What we discard as out of date in the UK is invaluable to the people of Uganda.

Shipment of all donated goods will take place in March 2010 with distribution in May 2010.