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At HAC, we’ve always believed in resilience, in ourselves, the communities we serve, the health workers, our supporters, and our mission. As we step into this new chapter, we find ourselves facing a challenging reality. While we are incredibly proud of the impact we’ve made with the support of the USAID Development Innovation Ventures (DIV) award, we are not certain if this support will continue. This uncertainty has led us to make some tough but necessary decisions.

Adopting to change

We’ve had to create an emergency budget to ensure we continue delivering healthcare to remote communities. This means reducing some of our activities, scaling back certain plans, and focusing on maintaining the heart of our work, the integrated health outreaches that bring essential medical services to hard-to-reach areas.

Though we may have to move at a slower pace, our commitment remains unwavering. We will maintain our current outreach sites and continue expanding to new remote communities, carefully balancing our ambitions with the resources we have.

Moving Forward with Purpose

This period of adjustment doesn’t mean we are standing still. We are actively working to gather support from new avenues. Our team is:

• Collecting donations from those who believe in our mission and want to stand with us.
• Engaging with foundations and partners who share our vision of accessible healthcare for all.
• Strengthening relationships with community health workers and local organizations to sustain our efforts on the ground.

How you can help

Now, more than ever, we invite you to be part of this journey. Whether through a donation, connecting us to potential partners, or simply amplifying our message, every action counts. Together, we can ensure that even during times of uncertainty, healthcare reaches those who need it most.

Thank you for standing by us, believing in our work, and helping us build a healthier, more resilient future for all.

With gratitude,

The HAC Team

#closingdistance #remotecommunities #health #public

Kaziru Village, situated at a landing site in Bukakkata sub-county, Masaka district, has experienced a remarkable transformation since partnering with Healthcare Access Connect (HAC). At the heart of this story is Naluyima Consolanta, a dedicated businesswoman, Local Council (LC) leader, the district’s secretary for women, and a Community Health Worker.

When HAC Joined Kaziru’s Journey

“In 2020, HAC joined Kaziru Village following a community meeting led by me and other leaders. The community, recognizing the distance to the nearest health facility, agreed that each patient would contribute 2,000 Ugandan shillings to help transport health workers and medicines. This collective effort marked the beginning of a life-changing partnership.” Recalled Naluyima Consolanta.

Since then, HAC has consistently brought healthcare services to Kaziru, offering treatment for cough, fever, high blood pressure, diabetes, HIV testing, and care for pregnant mothers. The impact has been profound, ensuring that essential medical services are within reach.

Facing Challenges Together

“In 2023, Kaziru faced a significant challenge when heavy rains made their unconstructed road muddy and impassable, with deep potholes raising transport costs to 8,000 shillings for a round trip. The community temporarily increased their contribution to 3,000 shillings to keep healthcare services going. Once the road was cleared, they returned to the usual 2,000 shillings,” said Consolanta. Showing resilience and unity.

Fighting Malaria in the Community

Malaria remains a pressing health issue in Kaziru. Despite the distribution of mosquito nets, some community members misuse them for fishing or nursery beds. Given the village’s proximity to forests and many residents work in timber cutting and fishing, mosquito bites are a constant threat. HAC has responded by educating the community on malaria prevention, clearing bushes, draining stagnant water, and correctly using mosquito nets, whether sleeping on a bed or on the floor.

Expanding Healthcare Access

While Kaziru has benefited from HAC’s support, the need for healthcare access extends to neighboring villages like Makunzi and Wakisoko. Though Bukakkata has a Health Center II, its limited services mean these distant communities still struggle to get the care they need. There is a growing hope that HAC’s outreach will soon reach these areas as well.

Empowering Leadership and Personal Growth

Working alongside HAC has strengthened Naluyima Consolanta’s leadership role. She has gained recognition not only within Kaziru but also at health facilities and among organizations. Known affectionately as “Mother Eve,” she is seen as the key link between the village and HAC.

“Even if someone is talking about HAC, they will tell you that ‘Mother Eve’ is the one who connected us to these people,” said Naluyima Consolanta.

This growing trust has positioned Naluyima as a reliable source of health information, especially for the youth who now seek her advice and collect condoms without fear or stigma, a change from the past.

A Brighter Future for Kaziru

Through HAC’s health education programs, Kaziru has made significant strides in improving community health. People now understand how to prevent malaria, protect themselves from HIV, and use condoms responsibly. The shift is also economic; residents have gone from selling mattresses to paying just 2,000 shillings for healthcare, with enough left over to buy juice or salt for the sick.

“Kaziru Village remains deeply grateful for HAC’s continued support. The community hopes that more villages like Makunzi and Wakisoko will soon share in this progress.” Requested Consolata, With steadfast determination and collective effort, the future of healthcare in Kaziru shines bright.

Healthcare Access Connect (HAC)We have started a fundraising campaign to help us continue to provide healthcare services to the most marginalized communities in the months to come. If you would like to support us in this, you can visit https://healthaccessconnect.org/donate

It’s been difficult to keep up with all the news, but I want to talk about what we have seen in Uganda.

Impact on healthcare in Uganda

Here are some key things that have happened:

• All US government grant recipients received stop work orders during the last week of January. The public healthcare system in Uganda receives about 50% of its funding from the US government and partners.
• Many of the staff of organizations supported by the United States President’s Emergency Plan For AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) were told to stay at home, and it has not been clear if and how people can distribute antiretroviral medicine (ARVs) to people living with HIV. In Uganda alone, this supports over 1.4 million people living with HIV who are at risk of death within weeks if they do not take their daily medicine. There is no other way to access ARVs in the country. The US government has sent follow-up orders to distribute medicine, but there is still confusion on the ground, and many patients are reaching out to find a way to get their medicine.
• There has been an ebola outbreak, and CDC and USAID usually partner with the Government Uganda and other partners to address outbreaks, but funding and disease specialists are not easily mobilized.

So things have been shaken up very abruptly, and it is not yet clear what will happen in the coming months.

Impact on HAC

Health Access Connect (HAC) has been operating for over 10 years, and we received a USAID Development Innovation Ventures (DIV) award in August 2024. Getting this award was a big Win for us, and we have been working hard to hire staff, move around the country, and get a randomized controlled trial (RCT) research project started. This pause order came right as we were getting ready to roll out to many new village outreach sites, and our research partners were preparing to start collecting data. It is not clear if our grant will be able to restart and when.

What we’re doing

We have had to quickly respond to the situation:

• We moved all affected staff to 50% work time and salary.
• We have halted activities that are funded by our USAID award.
• We are focusing on keeping existing outreach clinics going and keeping our capacity high.
• We may have to make difficult decisions on staffing and activities in the coming weeks depending on decisions that are made about USAID awards.

We have started a fundraising campaign to help us continue to provide healthcare service to the most marginalized communities in the months to come. If you would like to support us in this, you can visit https://healthaccessconnect.org/donate

We will continue to provide updates. No matter what happens, we will use whatever means we have to ensure that remote communities have access to healthcare. Thank you for your interest and support!

#Closingthedistance #We love health workers #Access to healthcare #remote communities #Walkathon2022 #Donate

For a long a time, many elderly men and women from Kiziba community in Uganda suffered the heavy burden of diseases like Ulcers, Hypertension, diabetes, HIV/AIDs, and malaria yet bringing closer an outreach clinic that provides treatment for these diseases is all it took to lift the burden of these diseases.

Community health worker, Kaweesi Matia Mulumba, a 35-year-old father in Kiziba community intensely desired to have a community free of treatable illness, but he was completely constrained on how to make that happen. Accessing the nearest health facility to the community is a struggle in terms of distance and unaffordable transport costs.  

Mr. Kaweesi lives in Kiziba parish, a remote difficult-to-reach community located in Uganda. The population is made up of a high number of vulnerable elderly people whose immunity often falls victim to a number of diseases and infections. The most common among these diseases though has been severe malaria and other mosquito-borne diseases. This is because of Kiziba’s leafy environment.

The remote community is a whopping 8kms away from Bukoto Health Center III, its nearest health facility, and the road used to enter or exit the community is in a sorrowful state. The transport needed to travel to their nearest health facility in cases of health emergencies is at least US$5. Yet, the majority of the men and women in Kiziba and the surrounding villages live on less than 1 dollar per day. This worried Mr. Kaweesi for years!

Cyclist maneuvers along the road to Kiziba remote community on a rainy day

When hope came…

Mr. Kaweesi while working with Bukoto Health Center III heard of Health Access Connect (HAC), a nonprofit organization that is linking remote communities to government healthcare services. He was instantly drawn to HAC’s work since he also wanted health services brought closer to his community.  So he decided to reach out to HAC’s field Coordinator, rest assured that the solution to the poor health burden of Kiziba community had been found!

On contacting the coordinator, Mr. Kaweesi went through a few procedures to get HAC to start work in his community. First, there was a community meeting to seek the views of the community concerning HAC’s  Medicycles approach and they embraced it at once. A memorandum of Understanding was signed with the community, and then HAC established an outreach clinic in the community.

Community members of Kiziba patiently waiting to receive medical attention during the outreach clinic

Mr. Kaweesi says he recalls a team from HAC visiting their community, and explaining to them the possibility of working with government health workers to have health services brought into their community. “We understood their mechanism to create a sustainable way for us to have continued access to healthcare, independent of outside funding. So as a community, we agreed to each contribute 2000 shillings (55 cents) at every monthly outreach clinic to cover the transportation costs of the government health workers” Mr. Kaweesi said

In August 2019, HAC started its first-ever outreach clinic in Kiziba community. That day, over 50 residents were served with several health care services including health promotion sessions, antenatal care, family planning, Antiretroviral treatment, malaria, diabetes, ulcers, Hypertension, and immunizations. These were provided to community members free of charge. 

”The community was so thankful that finally, we would no longer travel many miles to access the nearest health center. To this day, we can’t thank HAC enough” retorted Mr. Kaweesi.

Health Access Connect didn’t just stop at that in the community. Realizing that the community didn’t have a permanent site to host the monthly outreach clinics, HAC provided a shelter grant to the community, enabling them to construct a permanent site for the outreach clinic. The organization also made sure to include Mr. Kaweesi in a community health worker training that deepened his knowledge on how to conduct health education sessions addressing critical health topics like sexual and reproductive health, malaria prevention, COVID-19, and others. Mr. Kaweesi went ahead to conduct these sessions for his community to combat cases of malaria, COVID-19, HIV/AIDs, and other diseases.  

Since 2019, HAC has distributed a total of 696 patient services during outreach clinics in Kiziba community. This has supported in reducing the burden of the treatable illnesses and infections that the people of Kiziba community were facing.

A Community member is being tested for malaria by a health worker, while a mother and her children pose with the mosquito nets that they received during the outreach clinic in Kiziba community. 

Today, the elderly people, as well as the rest of the community members, have health services brought to them in the comfort of their homes. Youth are able to receive testing for HIV/AIDs in time to combat it’s spread, and children have continuous checkups to ensure that they are in good health. Kiziba community is thriving!

“Since we are so often treated and sensitized at the HAC outreach clinics, we are much healthier! We are even able to thrive in all the other aspects of our lives. Our men and women can go to their gardens and dig their food, our children can go to school and study because they are strong enough,” the Village Local Chairperson confessed!

Kiziba remote community is one of many remote communities that HAC has closed the distance for, by presenting them with a sustainable way to have easy access to healthcare. In total, so far, HAC operates the Medicycles program in over 85 remote communities in the districts of Kalangala, Lwengo, Lyantonde, Masaka, Rakai, Ssembabule, and Gomba and is currently expanding to other districts in East of Uganda, with future prospects to expand to other countries within Africa. So far in these communities of establishment, a total of 1,203 outreach clinics have been conducted, with over 50,000 patient services distributed

The organization looks forward to supporting the many other remote communities all over Uganda and around the world to have easier access to lifesaving healthcare services. All this is made possible by the unwavering commitment of donors to support the work HAC is doing. 

This month, HAC is hosting a walkathon fundraiser to raise $12000 that can help close the distance for additional remote communities in Uganda that still go through the struggle that Kiziba community suffered for a very long time. If you would like to be part of this transformation, feel free to donate/take part by tapping the button below. 

Join THE HAC WALKATHON today!

Health Access Connect (HAC) is pleased to be hosting a 5K virtual walkathon within the month of September to demonstrate the distance remote community residents need to travel for basic healthcare treatment while highlighting the importance of bringing government health workers and healthcare services to remote villages

Imagine walking 5K to and from a busy healthcare facility when you are completely down with a fever? or Imagine an expecting mother who is due soon and had to travel an unaffordable 10km journey atleast twice a month just to access professional antenatal care and postnatal care from an extremely busy health facility? Imagine patients living with HIV/AIDs that have to travel 12km journeys that they can’t afford on a monthly basis in order to receive their antiretroviral therapy?

Distance is very bad for health and HAC was created to help bring healthcare to remote communities. Since 2015, we have witnessed a rewarding impact on our work among some of Uganda’s marginalized and vulnerable populations located in the most difficult-to-reach areas. Through our consistent monthly outreach clinics to remote villages, the health of thousands of vulnerable men, women, and children has been improved. We have worked with local governments and communities over the years to establish a sustainable system in which government health workers and their medicines reach vulnerable patients located in the difficult-to-reach areas of the districts in which we are based: Masaka, Kalangala, Lwengo, Rakai, Lyantonde and Sembabule.

A testimonial from one of HAC’s beneficiaries

I had a bad fever for about ten days. In the night I would wake up feeling very very bad. But because I knew that today the medical workers were coming to our community, I preferred to wait for the medical workers coming here because it is tiring to travel to the health center and when we come to these outreach clinics, in truth, the medicine, we get it, compared to walking to the health center.. Travelling to the nearest health center from our community is 5km which is a long distance for me, and then they will charge me 6000 shs ($2) which I find very difficult to afford. Then sometimes even the medication that you need isn’t in stock. These outreach clinics have been really helpful to me in the sense that I have been able to reduce my transport costs that I could have used to travel to the nearest health facility.

I’d like to thank HAC for these outreach clinics because when I was not well, I really felt like I wasn’t myself. And them coming here to treat us is really so good because they do it so well.

Mbeka Rebecca, Kyempewo village, Rakai district

 Please refer to our dashboards to learn more about our impact since 2015.

We need your support

Basing on this impact as a big motivation, we are seeking to expand our work to other remote villages that face difficulty in accessing healthcare services — there are thousands of them out there. Your decision to support or participate in the 5K virtual walkathon will enable us to expand our work. Our intention is to fundraise $12,000 that can enable us to expand the Medicycles project to twelve other remote villages.

Here is how you can be a part of the virtual walk-a-thon:

Option 1: You can donate to it by selecting the Donate button on the top right of the page, or, Events Sign up at the center of the page.

Option 2: You can create a Social Team and host your own Walkathon at your convenience within the month of September September.

It would be such an honor to have you, your colleagues, friends, and family join us on 5K for healthcare in remote communities. Together we can do this, spread the word.

Executive Director Kevin Gibbons and Field Coordinator Costaritah Nalukwago presented a livestream on #GivingTuesday to discuss how our year has been and what we are looking forward to in the year to come. Spoiler alert: we’ve got big plans about serving in a technical advising role and reaching hundreds of thousands of patients!