Soft Power Health (SPH)
Soft Power Health (SPH)
Not-for-profit
Year launched: 2004Target geography
Target Population
Health focus
- Family planning and reproductive health
- Malaria and other vector borne diseases
- Nutrition
- Primary care
CHMI PLUS Status
Profile Completeness Rating
Monitoring & Evaluation Reporting
Summary
Soft Power Health provides malaria prevention and family planning education, primary health care and promotion of long-lasting insecticide treated mosquito and family planning products to rural communities in Eastern Uganda.Program goals
Malaria is the leading cause of death in Uganda. Soft Power Health aims to address this problem through malaria education and prevention programs, family planning outreach and an emphasis on maternal and child health.
Key program components
This innovation uses a combination of education, family planning outreach and health clinics to achieve their goals.
Malaria Education and Prevention: SPH implements an educational program that teaches important facts about malaria through pictorial diagrams to explain:
- How malaria is transmitted
- The signs and symptoms to look out for
- The treatment options and how to avoid developing drug resistance.
Each education program also includes a question and answer session, after which long lasting insecticide-treated mosquito nets are sold to community members at a subsidized cost, making them affordable to all. The scheme perform follow-up home visits within six months to evaluate the proper use of net, history of malaria since purchase, and knowledge retention. SPH trains other local NGOs and organizations in its Malaria Education and Outreach Program model.
Family Planning Education and Outreach Program: Began in 2007 and is based on the structure of the malaria program. Three teams of nurse-educators return to 39 outlying villages within Jinja District (SPHs home region) on an ongoing quarterly basis and offer information about:
- Conception and various forms of contraception
- Family planning (including the benefits of child spacing)
- Information on Sexually Transmitted Diseases (including HIV)
- Condom use as a means of protection and birth control
- Nutrition In addition, the family planning teams offer safe, biannual de-worming pills to children 2 years and older. These outreach programs provide education and methods of family planning for everyone who is interested.
Allan Stone Community Health Clinic: Using two exam rooms, a lab and a dispensary, Doctors and Nurses give care to isolated communities along the Upper Nile. Staff see upwards of 50 people a day and malaria is the number one disease treated. Through an MCH wellness center polio, BCG, MMR, and DPT vaccinations are offered. Solar power and water collection allows clinic to operate independently of local power supply, and bio-digester toilets have been installed that convert waste into by-products usable as additional fuel. A recently acquired solar powered refrigerator has ample storage space for all vaccines and medicines requiring refrigeration.
Nutrition Program: In 2008, SPH partnered with Development in Gardening who helped us establish an organically grown, wide variety, sustainable garden in front of the health clinic.
Mother and Child Wellness Center: The center opened its doors on February 23, 2011 in response to community need for a center offering comprehensive family planning services, treatment of malnutrition, and vaccinations. The forms of contraception available include those offered through our Family Planning Education and Outreach Program, plus additional methods such as IUDs and long term implants which require a clinical setting for implementation.