Living goods is an “Avon-like” network of franchised community health promoters who provide health education and earn a living selling essential health products door-to-door at prices affordable to the poor.
Uganda Village Project
Approach
Target geography
Target Population
Target income level
- Bottom 20%
Health focus
- Family planning and reproductive health
- HIV/AIDS
- Malaria and other vector borne diseases
- Maternal, newborn and child health
- Primary care
Summary
The Uganda Village Project (UVP) works with the people of Iganga to promote public health and sustainable development in the rural communities of this marginalized district in southeast Uganda through its IFMSA “Village Concept Project” model.Program goals
Our goals reflect each of our areas of focus, including capacity building, healthcare, and clean water.
WASH program: Decrease the health burden of diarrheal diseases
HIV program: To reduce HIV/AIDS incidence
Malaria program: Reduce the health burden and mortality due to malaria
Reproductive health program: Ensure sustainable access to effective and comprehensive reproductive and maternal health education and services
Obstetric Fistula program: Decrease the health burden of Obstetric Fistula
Village Health Team capacity building program: To provide Village Health Teams with the skills and knowledge to better serve the community members as a health resource in Healthy Villages
Key program components
Through the Healthy Villages program, we work at a village-by-village level to address the most pressing healthcare concerns of each community: malaria, HIV/STIs, household sanitation and hygiene practices (which includes latrine coverage), and family planning access. We partner with community based organizations, non-governmental organizations, international and national interns, volunteers, and government officials ranging from the district to the village level.
In each of our Healthy Villages, we:
- Create and train Village Health Teams (VHTs) which function as a community’s initial healthcare contact;
- Provide preventative education and workshops on healthcare issue such as malaria, hygiene and sanitation, eye care, family planning and obstetric fistula;
- Bring access to preventative healthcare such as STI/HIV testing and family planning options;
- Collaborate with local partners to create referral networks whereby VHT members and health centers alert UVP if a patient requires care beyond local capacity (such as obstetric fistula repair), and UVP coordinates services through camps or at a specialty site;
- Distribute malaria nets (subsidized by UVP so as to be affordable) to village households, both through direct sales and through setting up supply chains using the VHT
Scale
Financials
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