Tagged as: RHU

Child bride and fistula survivor becomes an advocate for change

Uganda : Rachael Wotali, was just a teenager, married at 17, when she nearly died in childbirth.

It was the year 2015 in eastern Uganda’s Iganga District. Wotali, as a young bride, may have been biologically unprepared for motherhood.

Her labor was extended and blocked, which may have been fatal. Her access to emergency treatment was also critically hampered. She recalls her mother yelling with the health care provider over their extended wait for help.

Unfortunately, the baby died at birth, leaving Wotali with an obstetric fistula, a hole in the birth canal that rendered her incontinent and exposed to a variety of other medical issues, including infections.

“I never enjoyed being a woman in marriage since I had this condition,” she later recalled. “It was tough to live.”

Today, the 23rd April 2022 is International Day to Put an End to Obstetric Fistulas. Fistulas are one of the most dangerous and devastating delivery injuries, and they are virtually totally avoidable. Access to competent maternal health care, particularly Caesarean sections to treat obstructed labor, can save both women’s and their kids’ lives and health.

Although the prevalence of obstetric fistula in Uganda stands at two percent, a 2016 study by the Ministry of Health estimates 200,000 women are living with fistula, and 1,900 new cases occur each year.

Yet more than two million women in the developing world are estimated to be living with this condition. Its persistence is a sign that health and protection systems are failing women and girls.

Wotali lived with an obstetric fistula for six years. In that time, she had a son and a daughter. But, like many fistula survivors, she was isolated, enduring ridicule if she left home. She was unable to do community work, attend funerals or visit church, she told Reproductive Health Uganda (RHU), while receiving family planning.

Nothing appeared to work towards improving the situation. “Traditional herbalists tried everything, and we had been told to do lots of things but the condition was never healed,” she recalled. “When you are in that situation, you try almost everything.”

But one day, one year ago, her sister was chatting with community members at a nearby borehole. Someone mentioned that a woman in the district had received treatment for chronic urinary incontinence. It turned out a fistula repair camp was taking place at Iganga district hospital.

She rushed to tell her mother.

Over 25 women received treatment during the government – private partnership supported event, including Wotali.

“I am now dry. I have no problem,” Wotali said. “This is how a woman should be.”

Many of the women, like her, have endured the condition a long time. One Alowo, lived with fistula for 28 years in Mayuge district but was also treated.

We all need to take action against obstetric fistula. It is estimated that two per cent of women in the country have experienced an obstetric fistula, according to a 2016 survey.

Since her treatment, Wotali has become an advocate for fistula survivors, helping multiple women receive repairs.

She says she still thinks back to the fateful day that she learned there was hope and help for women with obstetric fistula.

“That morning when my sister went to draw water saved my life,” she said.

Aldon Walukamba G, the author, is the RHU Media Advocacy and Documentation Coordinator.

Girls fleeing from FGM in Uganda are directed to Safety

Uganda, Kampala – “With no safe houses- schools, girls will be genitally mutilated,” said 21- year old Ruth Chelangat a community mobiliser, who mobilizes girls against female genital mutilation (FGM) in Kwosir sub county in Kween district of Uganda’s largely rural Sebei region.

“You can’t receive protection in the neighborhood during the cutting season,” she stated.

In areas of Uganda where FGM is performed, the “cutting season” usually coincides with school holidays, as it is this year. FGM, which includes damaging or modifying the female genitalia for non-medical reasons, can have a variety of severe health repercussions for girls who are exposed to it, including pain, infections, hemorrhaging, and death.

But when Betty Cheboi, was 22 years old, she implored her parents not to have her cut. They didn’t listen, and she had no safe place to run to. She nearly bled to death from her wounds.

Afterwards, she made her close relatives promise not to cut her younger sisters. For Cheboi, it was the beginning of a lifetime of activism to end FGM.

After receiving training from the Right Here, Right Now II (RHRN II) and the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), several youth teams in the Karamoja and Sebei regions are spreading the word that girls can find refuge at the safe houses operated in Amudat and Kween districts through, school programs, young people’s safe spaces at health centers, and community outreach.

“this is part of our effort to change negative values, norms and rituals abusing the enjoyment of sexual reproductive health and rights, in addition to young people’s gender justice,” Cheboi said.

However, according to Joseph Cheptegei, Kwosir sub-county Community Development Officer, when a cry for aid comes in, whether from a girl at risk or a concerned community member, identifying the girl can be difficult. This is due to the geography in the Sebei area, extensive unmapped land in Karamoja, and a lack of connectivity, with settlements of up to 5,000 people without plots and never appearing on Google maps.

“We are coming together to widen our network to unite people against FGM from across the Karamoja and Sebei regions,” said Cheptegei.

RHRN II, UNFPA through Reproductive Health Uganda (RHU), has organized the volunteer network’s efforts to teach young people so that activists on the ground can better protect girls since 2016.

Samuel Musani, RHRN II officer in Sebei region says that trained volunteer mobilisers, peer educators and young advocates comb through villages of rural Sebei and Karamoja regions, tracing for girls at risk or threat of FGM. They are then referred to safe houses and schools constructed by Action Aid – Uganda, Ministry of Gender, Labor and Social Development (MGLSD).

RHU works with government and other private partners like Reach a Hand Uganda (RAHU), Action Aid and Kapchorwa Civil Society Association.

During the 2021, over 2,000 volunteers in over 60 sub counties were trained under the RHRN II and UNFPA programmes by RHU and its partners.

As more and more communities abandon FGM, programming needs to zero in on remaining hotspots, noted Jackson Chekweko, RHU Executive Director.

When the cutting season is complete, most girls return home after two months. Volunteers, community social welfare personnel, and specially trained police engage with families and communities to alter attitudes, a step toward changing the societal norms that maintain FGM.

“We talk to parents,” said Chebot. “We show them that FGM has effects and is illegal in Uganda.”

Girls can return home if their parents promise to honor their requests not to be cut off and to help them in continuing their education. Every three months, the program does a check-in with the girls.

Girls whose families refuse to reconcile are housed in safe houses, where they get therapy and continue their education. Chebot, on the other hand, does not give up attempting to persuade their families to alter their beliefs.

“We are not stopping,” she said. “We keep visiting those families, talking to them so we can have reconciliation.”

While officiating the anti FGM day celebrations in Kapchorwa, on 20th April 2022, Uganda’s State Minister for Gender and Culture Peace Regis Mutuuzo, pledged that the 2010 anti FGM law will be revised to curb the new trends, that aid FGM to be done in countries neighboring Uganda.

Aldon Walukamba G, the author, is the RHU Media Advocacy and Documentation Coordinator.

Ugandan Youths Serve as Gender Justice and SRHR Advocates

There is hope that gender justice, sexual reproductive health, and rights (SRHR) initiatives in Uganda will enjoy wider acceptance by having young people act as “envoys.”

The youths in the Rwenzori region of Uganda are taking the lead in this by forming groups and preaching the SRHR and gender justice gospel, rehabilitating school dropouts and drug and alcohol abusers, mostly aged between 10 and 24 years.

Mary Karungi, 22, of Kaguma village, received training in sensitizing and mobilizing young people about their sexuality, reproductive health rights, and how to avoid emergency situations caused by unplanned sex encounters.

This was after several young people in her village, some of whom were under the age of 18, became pregnant, married, and dropped out of school.

She believes that the time has come for young people to take the lead in educating others about the dangers of unplanned sex, pregnancy, and marriage.

“We are doing some work in the villages, we talk to young people about body changes and how to act when they manifest, use family planning for those who are sexually active, and also demystify the negative norms and values that encourage teenage pregnancy and early marriages,” Karungi said.

In the last three months, Karungi has reached out to 86 young people in her village.

Rachael Mbonabana, Kicwamba Health Youth Development Group Chairperson in Kabarole district, says more than 800 young people have been approached by their group of 12 members. They go to schools, churches, mosques, playgrounds, and other communal gatherings with a message about positive living by empowering youths to claim their SRHR and gender justice. They also offer free condom distribution, sexuality education, and other messages promoting positive gender equality norms and values.

But Hassan Sebugwaawo, a Right Here Right Now-2 coalition (RHRN-2) project officer for Reproductive Health Uganda (RHU) in the Rwenzori region, says 144 young people in 12 groups of 12 young people each were empowered to saturate the gospel of gender justice, equality, and SRHR among young people.

Youth of Destiny is another young people’s group in Fort Portal City, Kabarole district, making strides towards emancipating young people about their SRHR and gender equality positive norms and values.

Brain Murungi, a spokesperson for Youth of Destiny, said they have rehabilitated a formerly 12-year-old girl who had been married off during the COVID-19 lockdown and a former school dropout, a boy. The two are now studying at Mukungwe primary school. The girl enrolled in family planning because she is sexually active.

Claire Kagaaju, a Youth Advisory Committee (YAC) Chairperson embraces SRHR and Gender justice training for young people that is accelerating the spread of SRHR and gender equality messages in a more diversified manner among young people in Tooro region.

Dr. Peter Ibembe, (RHU), Director of Programs, grins with optimism that when more skills are continually imparted to youths regarding gender justice and SRHR, several young people will avoid early sex, pregnancy, and marriage and live a better and more meaningful life. The youths are trained in positioning themselves in various working groups in the public and private sector to push for access to SRHR, gender justice, and family planning methods, including the use of contraceptives.

Jackson Chekweko, RHU Executive Director, believes young people should continue to receive training from SRHR and gender justice professionals on communication, resource mobilization, and advocacy techniques. The youth envoys will then use these skills to lead discussions among local, religious, and cultural leaders to change bad norms and values affecting gender equality, SRHR, and justice.

“Emphasis to the youths is geared towards firming up civil society, so we work in coalition, to have the participation of not only youths, but also religious leaders and community leaders to push acceptance that takes into account the social, cultural, and religious contexts and work with an understanding of that to develop programs and activities even in rural areas of the country,” said Jackson Chekweko.

The RHRN-2 coalition comprises seven members including Reproductive Health Uganda (RHU), SRHR Alliance, Sexual Minorities Uganda (SMUG), Hope Mbale, CEHURD, Reach a Hand Uganda (RAHU), and UNYPA.

Aldon Walukamba G, the author, is the RHU Media Advocacy and Documentation Coordinator.

What Tuberculosis Means for Maternal Reproductive Health

Joan Kaunhe [not her actual name] was diagnosed with tuberculosis (TB) during her first pregnancy, which resulted in a miscarriage, two years ago. She got unhappy as a result of the TB drugs’ negative effects, and she had difficulties eating. She and her husband were diagnosed with HIV a year later, during her second pregnancy. He passed away early this year, not long after his wife was diagnosed with tuberculosis for the second time. Despite the fact that she has completed her second round of therapy, her condition has caused her to abandon her employment. She and her children are supported by her mother-in-pension. law’s She does not inform anybody in her family or community about her HIV and tuberculosis because she is scared her mother-in-law would reject her and her children discriminately.

Patients like Joan are seen every day by those of us at Reproductive Health Uganda (RHU) who practice infectious disease treatment while providing integrated sexual reproductive health and rights services in TB-endemic countries like Uganda. Her narrative is, indeed, the story of tuberculosis among vulnerable women of reproductive age. Pregnant women are more vulnerable to tuberculosis, but we don’t know the best approaches to prevent or manage the disease in these women. Even the most fundamental facts that we have able to establish are unknown to a huge majority of health care practitioners in TB-endemic nations’ rural and disadvantaged urban settings. For example,

As we commemorate International Tuberculosis Day on March 24, 2022, under the theme “The Clock is Ticking”, it conveys the sense that Uganda is running out of time to act on the commitments to end TB made by global leaders. In women, TB is most common during the reproductive years.

Uganda is one of the 30 World Health Organization (WHO) designated countries with a high burden of TB and HIV. In 2019, the estimated incidence rate for TB was 200 per 100,000 people and the mortality rate was 35 per 100,000 people.

According to the Ministry of Health in Uganda, the TB disease burden stands at 3.5 infected persons per 100,000, of which two of these are women between 15 and 49 years of age.

Anicia Filda, Reproductive Health Uganda (RHU) Gulu branch in charge, says that women are twice as likely to develop TB around the time of pregnancy than at any other time in their lives.

“If a woman develops TB when she is pregnant, she has a 20% risk of death,” Filda said.

TB is a major cause of maternal mortality, especially among HIV-infected women. Pregnant women with TB also have a higher risk of pregnancy complications, such as miscarriage, hemorrhage, and infection.

If a woman develops TB when she is pregnant, her infant has a 38% risk of death.

Infants born to TB-infected mothers are at a higher risk of preterm delivery and poor birth weight. HIV-positive moms who have tuberculosis are twice as likely as those who do not have tuberculosis to transfer HIV to their child during pregnancy. In neonates, tuberculosis infections develop faster than in adults. Even children under the age of five are eight times more likely to die if they live in the same house as a mother with tuberculosis.

Aldon Walukamba G, the author, is the RHU Media Advocacy and Documentation Coordinator.

Reproductive Health Uganda strengthens disaster emergency preparedness plans

Reproductive Health Uganda (RHU) has expanded its plans to prepare employees to respond in times of man-made and natural catastrophes in order to deliver better services to Ugandans.

The need to improve RHU staff awareness of how to deal with crises was recognized by Dr. Peter Ibembe, RHU Director of Programs, and Annet Kyarimpa, RHU Manager of Safe Motherhood, which led to the planning.

“It’s critical to recognize that an organization is prone to calamities and to plan ahead of time,” Dr. Ibembe added.

According to Kyarimpa, getting the relevant information, contributing, and planning for disaster preparation requires a coordinated effort on the part of the organization’s departments, units, and directorates (EPP).

When an emergency occurs, this will advise RHU on what to offer and how to provide integrated sexual reproductive health and rights (SRHR) services.

“Common knowledge of duties and responsibilities in humanitarian and disaster response is crucial for workers,” Annet Kyarimpa explains.

For this reason, more than ten RHU employees gathered in Mbarara for a week to prepare an EPP that would help the company respond more efficiently in times of disaster.

The services of Seema Manohar, an EPP consultant, were obtained with the help of the Danish Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the International Planned Parenthood Federation – Africa Regional (IPPFAR).

Seema underlines the need of having a separate strategy for each crisis, whether it is long-term or short-term.

But, as Seema pointed out, “we must remember that emergency response is a process and that we must always be prepared, since how quickly you respond to a tragedy counts.”

Edward Kiggundu, RHU Monitoring and Evaluation Coordinator, noted shortage of resources like as water, land, pasture, firewood, and food as sources of conflict among the vulnerable, underserved, and disadvantaged groups that RHU seeks to assist while delivering a study report. This he says affects delivery, access and follow up for those in need of integrated SRHR services from RHU.

RHU personnel and the consultant finished the emergency preparation planning meeting by putting up a draft document that will be used to direct operations during an emergency.

Aldon Walukamba G, the author, is the RHU Media Advocacy and Documentation Coordinator.

Family Guidance Association of Ethiopia appreciates RHU for empowering youths

Today’s youth in Uganda face numerous obstacles, ranging from persistent poverty to entrenched inequities. Yet, if concerned leaders act now, a major remedy is just around the corner.

Demographics are changing in many of Uganda’s poor, emerging regions, with a large number of young people entering the workforce and a decreasing number of dependents. These are possible indicators of economic growth that can occur when a larger proportion of the population is employed, allowing households to save and invest more money. These reforms, when implemented on a large scale, have the potential to lift entire communities out of poverty.

However, there will be no dividend if Ugandans do not invest in young people’s health, education, jobs, and human rights at the outset.

At a high-level meeting with visitors from the Family Guidance Association of Ethiopia (FGAE) at RHU in Kampala, Jackson Chekweko, Executive Director of Reproductive Health Uganda (RHU), said, “By tapping into the massive transformative capabilities of youth, entire nations stand to improve their prospects.”

“We need to invest more resources in teaching young people to be innovators, entrepreneurs, and change agents,” says Chekweko.  At the event, youth leaders echoed Jackson Chekweko’s call to action.

“Let young people contribute with our skills, our education, our opinions, and our active engagement,” said Daisy Kandole, the RHU’s Youth Assistant.

Efforts to empower, educate, and employ young people have the potential to have a widespread impact throughout society.

Mohammed Katabalwa, the RHU Youth Action Movement (YAM) Chairperson and a 25-year-old from Kampala, Uganda, is a striking example of this. Struggles characterize his neighborhood, which is plagued by poverty, high rates of sexually transmitted illnesses, and a lack of school-aged children.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, Katabalwa had his share of hardships.

“I was just like any other young kid who wasn’t attending school, but the lockdown made it impossible for them to earn money,” he told FGAE officials.

He subsequently promoted the idea of creating liquid soap to RHU’s youth section, and he is now a role model for other young people.

This is because he participated in RHU’s youth social enterprise model training two years ago, a program that teaches young people about health and how to start small businesses.

RHU’s youth are also given the opportunity to communicate about social enterprises and sexual reproductive health and rights (SRHR) using digital channels .

RHU is commended by Getachew Habtie, FGAE Executive Director, for its strong work relationships among personnel and for developing youth.

Getachew remarked that “RHU embraces the diversity of young people and empowers them for a better and brighter future.”

FGAE YAM Chairperson Hawi Shemeles, on the other hand, was equally pleased that young people could obtain services and training at the RHU office.

“It’s incredibly convenient to have all of the offices in one location. The RHU personnel, clinic, and youth center are all in one location for youth. This attracts young people, “Hawi explained.

The FGAE team of five is in Uganda for a three-day visit to RHU clinics in Katego and Luweero in order to benchmark and discuss best practices between RHU and FGAE. The two organisations offer SRHR services at a national level and are affiliated to the International Planned Parenthood Federation (IPPF) Africa region.

Aldon Walukamba G, the author, is the RHU Media Advocacy and Documentation Coordinator.

Bwaise Drop in Centre receives IPPFAR donations from RHU

The International Planned Parenthood Federation Africa Regional office (IPPFAR) has donated equipment worth 20 million shillings to the Bwaise Drop in Centre (DIC).

The equipment was provided in the presence of locals, their leadership, and the Empowered at Dusk Women Association (EADWA) administration and members by Reproductive Health Uganda (RHU), an affiliated member of IPPFAR.

RHU Executive Director Jackson Chekweko thanks IPPFAR’s leadership, led by Marie-Evelyne  Petrus-Barry, for fulfilling  her pledge during her visit to Uganda in November 2021.

He says the equipment will be used to improve women’s rights, empower the vulnerable, and create a safe environment for them to thrive.

“The equipment will not only provide women with the dignity and surroundings they deserve when they visit the center, but it will also encourage many of them to seek integrated sexual reproductive health and rights services in Bwaise RHU clinic, located 100 metres away in Bwaise, Kampala city,” said Chekweko.

The refurbished facility, according to Barbara Nanfuka, a coordinator and DIC beneficiary, will go a long way in helping disadvantaged women gain traction at accessing health services in a more conducive environment.

Richard Mboizi, Manager of the EADWA-run DIC, says he needs more help to respond to the growing number of 50 vulnerable people who come to the DIC every day for rest, comfort, and medication refills.

“The grants from the IPPFARO will be a huge help in our efforts to manage vulnerable persons and provide better services to our clients,” Mboizi added.

Ruth Nankya, a Bwaise II councilor for the Kampala City Council Authority (KCCA), praises IPPFAR’s assistance while requesting for more when support it comes to obtaining medical services, expertise, and administrative resources to protect Ugandans’ lives.

EADWA was created in 2008 by female sex workers who had been sexually and physically abused in the slums of Bwaise III parish in Kawempe division, Kampala district. They were also subjected to stigma and discrimination, notably in health care facilities.

A fifty-seater tent, a 40″ smart Hisense television screen, 21 seating chairs, two file cabins, six (6) CCTV cameras, three resting beds, and mattresses were among the items donated by Reproductive Health Uganda to EADWA from IPPFAR.

Aldon Walukamba G, the author, is the RHU Media Advocacy and Documentation Coordinator.

Daisy Kandole becomes International Advisory Committee Member

Reproductive Health Uganda’s (RHU), Youth Assistant will now serve as a member of an international youth advisory committee.Daisy Kandole, was appointed to the International Youth Advisory Committee for the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs (DMoFA) starting November 2021 until January 2023.

Daisy Kandole, was appointed to the International Youth Advisory Committee for the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs (DMoFA) starting November 2021 until January 2023. Kandole who has served as a volunteer at RHU since 2019, but is currently under the Youth Connect project, is strong-minded that young people the world over must claim and enjoy their sexual health and reproductive rights (SRHR’s).

“SRHR and young people cannot be separated if we are to develop. Currently, young people are self-motivated and must enjoy their SRHR’s. This calls for empowerment of the young people with SRHR information for them to make informed SRHR’s decisions.”

Kandole, who doubles as a youth action movement member (YAM) at RHU -Kampala, walked off competition from 800 applicants initially before only 20 persons were shortlisted for an online interview, in which she emerged victoriously. The newly established DMoFA under its Youth At Heart Strategy aims at putting young people at the center of its international corporation. It comprises 10 young people drawn from across the 271 countries of the world with a cardinal role giving strategic guidance to programming, policy-making, and strategic partnerships for the Ministry for youth.

Jackson Chekweko, RHU Executive Director pledges the organization’s management support to Daisy Kandole, while saying “With consistent hard work, you will break the roof glass and reach the sky. We shall support you.”

Kandole is not the first RHU – YAM member to be internationally recognized and appointed to serve on a youth committee. In 2016, Olgah Daphynne Namukuza,  was elected as the International Planned Parenthood Federation (IPPF) regional representative for the Youth Action Movement after volunteering at Reproductive Health Uganda, a non-governmental organization (NGO) since she was a student.

Kyadondo Rotary Club Donates UGX 7 million Clinical Equipment to RHU

Reproductive Health Uganda (RHU) Katego clinic has received new clinical equipment worth UGX 7 million, thanks to Kyadondo Rotary Club Kampala. The equipment includes recovery beds, cubicle curtains, window curtains, metallic cupboards, drip stands, mattresses, blankets, bedsheets, and a 32-inch LED television monitor. Other pieces of equipment for the Ultrasound scanning room include curtains, linen cupboards, and curtain rods.

Speaking at the handover of the equipment, Peter Sewagudde, the President of the Kyadondo Rotary Club noted that the decision to donate was arrived at after identifying a role played by RHU in offering integrated sexual reproductive health and rights services (SRHR) indiscriminately to the underserved and vulnerable people in Uganda.

“We celebrate SRHR and family planning service providers like RHU and this is the initial stage of a partnership that will last forever,” Sewagudde said.

A team of Rotarians from Kyadondo conducted a Medical Mission at RHU Katego clinic early October 23, 2021, with a mission of giving a facelift.

Sewagudde, explains that it is upon this background that their team identified the challenges at the Katego RHU clinic facility and considered offering the required equipment.

Doctor Peter Ibembe, the RHU Director of Programs confirms that their RHU Katego clinic needs a facelift from donors and volunteers, especially in the areas of specialized equipment. He welcomed the donation, saying it will improve RHU’s efficiency and quality of SRHR and family planning service delivered.

RHU offers integrated SRHR, family planning, sexual and gender-based violence cervical cancer screening and vaccination, COVID – 19 RDT, fertility tests, HIV, STI, and counseling services among others in its 20 clinics located across the country.

RHU Trains Staff in Emergency Preparedness and Response Planning

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.