Reproductive Health Uganda (RHU) has trained staff in emergency preparedness and response planning training skills.
Dr. Peter Ibembe, RHU Director of Programs says that the three-day training program held at Fairway Hotel in Kampala aimed at preparing RHU staff with emergency preparedness tools and guidelines that are internationally recognized and can be adapted to the Ugandan local contexts like risk assessment guidelines, security programming in humanitarian settings and drafting emergency plans.
He said that as the trainees acquire the skills, the most important question posed to us is, how ready are we to respond to emergencies?
Robinah Nambooze, RHU Governance and Human Resource Manager (GHRM), says that the training is important, especially in line with building the capacity of RHU senior management staff to initiate a timely, effective and coordinated SRHR response in crisis and humanitarian situations. The training also provided a common understanding of systems, structures, resources, and human resource priorities, roles, and responsibilities in emergency response.
Annet Kyarimpa, RHU Manager Safe Motherhood says the emergency training is implemented by RHU with support from the UKaid, approaches in complex and challenging environments for sustainable sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights (ACCESS) project.
The ACCESS project was developed to produce a set of scalable, evidence-based, participatory approaches to support and engage marginalized and under-served populations in complex and challenging environments, to claim and access comprehensive sexual and reproductive health (SRH)information and services.
In this regard, it targets the more vulnerable and underserved populations such as urban poor, rural populations, refugees and internally displaced persons (IDPs), and young people.
Over the years, RHU has expanded its SRH service delivery network within the humanitarian setting by establishing physical facilities and outreach services in Rhino-camp in Arua district, 19 refugee settlements in Adjumani, and Parolinya refugee settlement in Obongi district. Other areas of operation or interventions are the Kyangwali refugee settlement In Kikuube district, Bidi-Bidi in Yumbe district, and Lamwo district.
