Thursday, August 22, 2013

Atlas Launches Maternal and Child Health Initiative in the Rwenzururu Kingdom

Atlas has teamed up with Health Alliance International (HAI) at the University of Washington, Makerere University in Kampala and Great Lakes Coffee Uganda to implement a Maternal and Child Health Project in the Rwenzururu Kingdom in western Uganda. 

For the past two years, Atlas has been importing high quality naturals from the Rwenzururu Kingdom.  During a visit to the Kingdom Atlas’ Craig Holt and Jennifer Roberts had the opportunity to meet with the Queen of the Rwenzururu people.  During their meeting she expressed the need within the Kingdom for birthing centers in mountainous areas, safe delivery kits and family planning education in rural areas where coffee is produced.  Atlas has responded to the concerns addressed by the Queen and is pleased to announce the launch of our Maternal and Child Health Initiative in the Rwenzururu Kingdom. 

HAI and Makerere University each selected a graduate student to participate in this project. Mariel Boyarsky and Racheal Tumwebaze are on the ground working on the first phase of the project.  They have been traveling around the Rwenzori mountains to interview local women about their experiences seeking health care.  This phase will consist of mapping existing health care facilities and services, identifying barriers to prenatal, delivery, postpartum care and family planning, and will recommend areas for improvement.  Atlas hopes the data will highlight specific needs and lead to improving healthcare infrastructure for women in the Kingdom.

Meet Mariel and Racheal:
Mariel Boyarsky is currently pursuing her Master of Public Health in Global Health at the University of Washington.  She is originally from New York State, and before moving to Seattle in September 2012, she lived in New Orleans, Louisiana and Tel Aviv, Israel.  She has worked on various public health issues, including access to mental health care (New Orleans), health and language access (New Orleans and Tel Aviv), and access to health care for refugees and asylum seekers (Tel Aviv).  This is Mariel's first time in Uganda, and she is excited to be working on this project!


Racheal Tumwebaze is pursuing a Master of Public Health degree majoring in Bio statistics and Epidemiology in Makerere University in Uganda. She is a Ugandan by nationality. Her background education is Environmental health science. Before her master’s program, she worked with as a field officer for Safe motherhood project in a Non-Governmental Organization called Save for Health Uganda for three years. During that time, she promoted community based health insurance schemes to help women access quality health care services in districts of Bushenyi and Sheema, located in western Uganda.  She has major interests in Maternal and child health especially for the rural poor Ugandans.

No comments:

Post a Comment