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Malaria remains a substantial public health challenge and economic burden on Ugandan communities, impacting individuals, families, and national productivity. According to the World Health Organization's 2023 Malaria Report, Uganda recorded approximately 597,000 new malaria cases in 2022, contributing to the global total of 249 million cases across 85 malaria-endemic countries. Uganda accounted for about 5.1% of global cases and roughly 3.2% of malaria deaths, highlighting the significant strain on its health system.
Globally, malaria case incidence was approximately 58 per 1,000 population at risk in 2022, showing a slight increase from previous years. The WHO African Region remains disproportionately affected, housing 94% of all malaria cases and 95% of malaria deaths worldwide. Uganda’s contribution to these statistics underscores the significant toll that malaria continues to take on its population and the urgent need for improved control and prevention efforts (World Malaria Report 2023).
For a typical Ugandan family, a single malaria episode costs about UGX 33,500 (approximately $9)—3% of their annual income. When multiple infections occur each year, families in malaria-endemic areas may spend up to 25% of their household income on prevention and treatment. This financial strain results in lost workdays, lower productivity, and reduced school attendance, further exacerbating poverty and hardship.
On a larger scale, industries and agricultural sectors suffer from reduced labor productivity, and potential investors are hesitant to engage in countries with high malaria prevalence, hindering growth and development.
With the increasing challenge of mosquito resistance to insecticides and antimalarial drugs, coupled with the unpredictable effects of climate change, Uganda faces an urgent need to explore new tools and strategies in its malaria control efforts. Emerging innovations, such as recently developed vaccines and genetic methods, bring hope for sustainable malaria reduction. The WHO has highlighted that such innovations, including the RTS,S/AS01 vaccine, could make a significant difference, especially in highly endemic regions. However, scaling up these solutions requires substantial investment in research, development, and broader public health infrastructure to ensure that they reach all communities effectively.
Expanding Uganda’s arsenal against malaria involves not only adopting new technologies but also securing continuous funding to address evolving challenges. The time to act is now—combatting malaria isn't just about saving lives, it's about protecting Uganda's economic potential and empowering communities for a brighter tomorrow.
Congratulations to Soroti Municipal SS on their outstanding progress in the Ugandan National STEM and VEX Robotics Championship! They're among 24 schools competing in this groundbreaking event, which aims to empower Uganda's next generation of innovators.The championship promises to be an exciting showcase of talent and potential, with the top five teams earning a spot to represent Uganda at the VEX Robotics World Robotics Championship in Dallas, USA, next year! Let's cheer on Soroti Municipal SS as they showcase their skills and creativity in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics!
Empowering Voices That Might Otherwise Go Unheard!The future of Uganda depends on our collective action against malaria. Let’s support the next generation’s call to end this preventable disease!
We are pleased to share an update on the construction of the wall fence at Beacon of Hope School. This project is crucial for enhancing the safety and security of our students.
The new wall will significantly reduce unauthorized access to the school, allowing our students to focus on their studies in a secure environment. By establishing clear boundaries, we are fostering a sense of safety and focus for all our students.
We extend our heartfelt gratitude to our generous donors for their support in making this project possible. Together, we are committed to ensuring a safe and nurturing environment for all students at Beacon of Hope School.
Program for the World Malaria Day Science Colloquium 2023
Presentations by Dr. Dorothy Echodu, Pilrgrim Africa CEO
In January 2023, Pilgrim Africa successfully and sustainably transitioned iCCM over to The Aids Support Organization (TASO) and the Communication for Development Foundation Uganda! (CDFU).
The transition focused on addressing these main areas of concern:
This session allowed for a successful handover allowing for continued quality care for patients.
As transition began, one activity remained as a conclusion to this program. That was the first monthly supervision of iCCM VHTs by health facility staff.
The largest part of the training and supervision focused on improving proper usage of Sick Child Job Aid (SCJA), case management of sick children, and the importance of identifying danger signs for referral by the Village Health Teams (VHTs) in their communities. Much emphasis was put on the importance of counseling caregivers on how to care for a newborn and for sick children at home by the VHTs and utilization of checklists for clinical sessions and notebooks.
A huge thank you to MPI, World Vision, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, and all of you. Because of these collaborative efforts, all caretakers of children under 5 in Katakwi now have access to prompt, lifesaving diagnoses and treatments for malaria, diarrhea, and pneumonia. Thank you for helping to end severe illness and death from malaria!
“For we are God’s co-workers;
you are God’s field, God’s building.”
1 Corinthians 3:9
VHT selection and supervisor training begins
Village Health Team (VHT) selection in Katawki District
VHTs are community volunteers, selected for being honest, trustworthy, and nonpolitical, and for local language skills. 1,100 VHTs were selected to cover 550 villages.
Training of trainers
The next step was to “train the trainers” (ToT). Facility-based health workers supervise VHTs performing iCCM and take referrals for urgent cases. 80 health workers from 20 sub- counties/town councils in Katakwi participated in the ToT, supervised and supported by 8 Master Trainers from Uganda’s MOH.
Health workers learned how to teach VHTs to use diagnostic kits and treatments:
Additionally, trainers learned to teach VHTs to refer children under 5 years with danger signs (such as vomiting, convulsions, unconsciousness, chest in-drawing, inability to drink or breast feed) to medical professionals, and to remind household members to sleep under nets, maintain good hygiene, and stay hydrated when ill.
During the training of VHTs, each trainer will lead a separate VHT training session for a group of 20-40 VHTs.
The training of trainers is a huge step forward for the success of this project and the health of children in this region, where 14 out of 100 children die before they turn 5.
Huge thanks to the district, the Ministry of Health trainers, Rotary, MPI and World Vision Uganda for a successful training — and to you!
“Early in the morning,
Jesus arrived again in the temple area,
and all the people started coming to him,
and he sat down and taught them.”
John 8:2
We are delighted to report that all 1,100 volunteers from 550 villages across the District of Katakwi have been trained and equipped as iCCM village health team members (VHTs)!
All of the volunteers had two consecutive training sessions in 20 different venues, with 100% attendance. 80 graduates from the “training of trainers” led the trainings, supervised by Ministry of Health master trainers. Other observers and supervisors included the Pilgrim Africa technical team, District Health Management Team (DHMT), World Vision, and Rotary Club of Muyenga.
Basic Health Care Package
This 3-day training from November 15-17 trained VHTs on basic health knowledge and skills, and on the collection and management of health information.
iCCM Training & Equipping
From the 18th-25th of November 2022, VHTs were trained on the diagnosis and case management of sick children, management of medicines and health supplies, registration and documentation of households and cases, danger signs for referral to health professionals, as well as on counseling caregivers on home care of newborns and sick children. Group discussions, role-plays, and demonstrations helped ensure all participants benefited. During the last two days, the participants practiced their skills on sick children in the health facility.
A project in partnership with Rotary International,
Malaria Partners International, and World Vision
Integrated Community Case Management (iCCM) is a community-based child health strategy designed to reduce deaths and disease in children under 5 suffering from the top three childhood killers: malaria, pneumonia, and diarrhea. After Pilgrim Africa completed our community trial on iCCM methods in three highly infected sub counties of Katakwi District, Uganda in late 2020, all partners hoped we could scale up iCCM to the entire district. Hopes are being realized now with an iCCM scale-up project for all of Katakwi under strong leadership from the Ministry of Health National Malaria Control Division (NMCD), and after months of collaboration with the sponsoring organizations: Malaria Partners International, Rotary International, and World Vision.
Enormous thanks to the funding partners for their faith, optimism and hard work, which makes this scale-up possible! Huge thanks also to the Ministry of Health NMCD, for their support and coordination of all the partners.
The district program launch was on August 17, 2022, and was well attended by Ministry of Health National Malaria Control Division, Katakwi District local government and health team, Muyenga Rotary Club (the host club for the Rotary project), World Vision Uganda, and Pilgrim Africa.
Important Project Statistics
This newsletter is the first of a series of updates on this exciting and ongoing project. The work in Uganda has remained a top priority, and we are eager to share it more fully.
“I will call on you, my God.
Turn your ear to me, and hear my prayer.”
Psalm 17:6
Beacon students are working hard. Candidate students, S4 and S6, recently took mock exams developed by their teachers that imitate national exams. Next they’ll complete practice tests compiled by teachers from other schools. Both sets of exams expose areas needing further study before national exams five months from now.
Sadly however, these students may not be able to continue learning. Many school families are behind on tuition. The war in Ukraine has great inflated fuel prices.
The recession has inflated the cost of all basic necessities. Most students come from rural families who practice subsistence farming; rains in the region have delayed, and this too has affected families’ ability to pay.
Younger students have been expanding their horizons on field trips. S2 students enjoyed traveling to a neighboring state to see an art and history museum, a zoo, and burial sites of important Ugandan figures. S3 students will take a trip at the end of June to an agricultural research center, where they will learn about genetically modified plants that are disease resistant and better adapted to the Ugandan climate.
These are wonderful opportunities, but without your assistance, the school faces tough choices about whether to let these hard-working students remain.
Please consider helping a family keep their child in school. A single term of tuition costs only $285, and can make a huge difference in the lives of these young people.
Students pose after a cultural performance at school.
“Blessed are those who find wisdom, those who gain understanding.”
Proverbs 3:13
At the end of May, the Ugandan government reported an alarming surge in malaria in several large regions across the country, including Busoga, Lango, Acholi, Tooro and West Nile. The cause of this increase is unknown, but the ministry of health reported a 50% increase in people seeking treatment for malaria. In these highly affected areas, malaria now accounts for up to 80% of all outpatient attendance, up from 30%. Approximately 50% of the severe malaria cases reported in the last few months presented with anemia so advanced that blood transfusions were required. Malaria deaths have increased threefold.
Support is needed at this crucial time to fight the increase in disease. These malaria affected areas are short of critical prevention tools like the bednets Pilgrim recently helped the national malaria control program deliver in Lango. Please support Pilgrim Africa as we support the people of Uganda.
Sources: The Independent (article and photo credit)
Uganda Media Centre
Pilgrim Africa was honored to be a part of the first-ever Public-Private-Partnership (PPP) for indoor residual spraying (IRS) in five urban slums of Kampala District, Uganda, carried out in January 2022. As part of the PPP IRS pilot, Pilgrim Africa (PA) conducted a community-based survey in children 15 years.
and under in both PPP-sprayed and unsprayed urban slums.
Collaborating closely with the Kampala Capital City Authority (KCCA) and the National Malaria Control Division (NMCD), the PA team engaged 16 village health teams and 8 local councils to enumerate all households in 5 sprayed and 2 unsprayed parishes prior to survey implementation. A total of 400 households were randomly selected from each strata to participate in the survey, which consisted of a household questionnaire, a caretaker’s questionnaire and a malaria biomarker assessment using rapid diagnostic test (RDT) to test and treat children 15 years and under in the household.
From April 22nd – May 7th, 2022, interviewers surveyed a total of 738 households, 731 caretakers and assessed 1,212 children 0–15 years of age.
The community-based survey found that malaria in slum dwellers in unsprayed homes is 7 times higher than it estimated for city residents on average. The survey also revealed significant housing and environmental deficiencies that expose residents to mosquitoes, and also serve as breeding and habitat sites for malaria mosquitoes. Roughly 50% of households in both PPP-IRS and unsprayed parishes reported feeling unprotected from mosquito biting while at home, and 70% feel their environment (i.e. the stagnant water, sewage and drainage) is the cause. While only a small proportion of households use mosquito repellent (6%) or mosquito coils (5%), almost 40% of households dry out puddles and stagnant water around their house.
Though IRS is a highly effective intervention in high burden malaria areas, it may not be the stand-alone intervention for urban settings, where the surrounding environment continues to breed malaria mosquitoes. Results from this survey can help inform a multipronged approach for urban settings. A combined public-private partnership with community engagement can support malaria prevention and control in a largely ignored and vulnerable population.
For ⅔ of our students, January 10, 2022 marked the first time back to any kind of school since March of 2020, when students were sent home after only a month of school. Without access to remote learning, these students were out of school for the past two years. BOHC candidate students taking exams– those in Senior 4 and Senior 6– had a little school, but their class-time was very interrupted:
After so long out of school, many students have become “lost learners”. Uganda’s Ministry of Education estimates that fully 30% of learners did not return to their classrooms in 2022. BOH is currently only at 72% enrollment. Many former students now work to provide extra income to their families during the recession. Other students are married and/or pregnant. Nationwide, teenage pregnancy went from 1 in 4 young women to 1 in 3. Parents are also finding it increasingly difficult to pay tuition, as inflation is high, and commodities are extremely expensive. Basics like sugar, soap, cooking oil and fuel have nearly doubled in price. All of this will pose a challenge as BOH seeks to increase enrollment!
Impact on Campus Today
For the students who have been home for a long time, the transition to the disciplined schedule of a typical school day has been a challenge. The first few months of the school year have been spent settling the students; only now do BOH teachers report that students are at last able to focus and study properly.
Though the pandemic has been challenging, the BOH community is delighting in being back together, and enjoying learning very much. With the economy open and vaccines increasingly available, the mood in the country is positive. Despite many difficulties still to overcome, hope runs high. Please pray for BOH students and their families, as well as school faculty and staff.
In alignment with 2022 World Malaria Day’s message of “strengthening country ownership,” Pilgrim Africa collaborated with multiple partners to implement the first-ever Public-Private-Partnership for malaria vector control in Kampala.
Guided by the National Malaria Control Division and spearheaded by Malaria-Free Uganda, numerous public and private organizations worked tirelessly to carry out indoor spraying in neglected households in five urban slum areas.
Pilgrim Africa staff are now surveying the work, measuring malaria infection rates and interviewing families. Impact is beginning to show!
Mrs. N. Jane is a single mother of four children and is a resident of Kisenyi slum in Kampala. The slum is characterized by high poverty levels; makeshift, crowded housing made of temporary building materials; poor drainage and accumulated garbage; high levels of school dropouts; teen pregnancies, a high burden of communicable diseases; and a high crime rate.
Jane operates a small restaurant and does food vending within this slum and stays in a two-room rented house with her four kids and one grandson. The house is located next to a blocked drainage channel that collects sewage and rainwater from the neighboring households. Before the spraying of the slums by Pilgrim Africa, Jane was constantly in and out of clinics treating herself and the children for malaria almost every month. Jane would barely save a penny from her small vending business since the clinics would consume 20,000-30,000 UGX ($6-$9) for each treatment per person.
Now, three months after Pilgrim’s spray campaign, there has not been a single episode of malaria in Jane’s household. She has managed to save part of her children’s school fees from her business and pay the outstanding debt on for two months rent. Jane can sleep soundly since the spraying reduced the heavy infestation of bedbugs in her house.
This is the work Pilgrim Africa is privileged to support:
country-led, all hands-on deck, unafraid of resource constraints.
This is the story of the most burdened among us;
a story of power, love, and sound minds that will defeat malaria.
Happy World Malaria Day!
Pilgrim Africa is proud to have collaborated in a pioneering effort as part of the Government of Uganda’s response to fight malaria among the most vulnerable, particularly women and children. We partnered with Uganda’s National Malaria Control Division (NMCD), Malaria Free Uganda (MFU), MP’s from Uganda’s Parliamentary Forum for Malaria, the Kampala City authority (KCCA), BenCity, and Ecobank in the first-ever public-private partnership to deliver a successful multi-sectoral urban mosquito control initiative in 5 slum areas in Kampala, which made national network evening news in Uganda.
Thanks to the persistent efforts of NMCD, MFU and our team, Pilgrim Africa was able to provide insecticide, personal protective equipment, and technical assistance and assessment to the ongoing spray project which targets the city’s slums, and the facilities surrounding them by spraying walls and surfaces where mosquitoes carrying malaria parasites often rest. Malaria Free Uganda and partners met the other costs of the campaign.
Thank you again to our supporters for challenging despair with us in the midst of the COVID crisis! Please pray for the safety of our team, and the people of Uganda.
Blessings,
The Pilgrim Team
It is with great pleasure that we announce the completion of the Katakwi Rotary Malaria Project (KRMP) Phase II endline survey, and with it the operational research phase of this incredible project!
This project has been a remarkable collaboration between the National Malaria Control Division (NMCD), Malaria Partners International (MPI), Rotary International (RI), including multiple clubs in the US and in Uganda headed by Soroti Central Rotary Club and Seattle #4, President’s Malaria Initiative (PMI), the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation (BMGF) and Pilgrim Africa. We are so grateful to all the partners.
Over the last two years our Village Health Teams (VHTs) have accomplished wonders:
On average, VHTs treated approximately 1.8 cases of malaria per person over this two year period,
This August, the Pilgrim Africa field research team assessed the comparative effectiveness of two different types of community case management: integrated community case management (iCCM) vs proactive community case management (ProCCM) on malaria burden. VHTs in the ProCCM arm tested and treated at least 8x as many individuals as VHTs in the iCCM arm. Did this level of testing and treating have any transmission suppressing impact?
To answer this question, the field researchers braved the rainy season, the risks of Covid, and violent unrest in the study area to survey 4,146 community residents. They asked questions about household characteristics, malaria care and treatment practices, and the coverage of prevention tools, and simultaneously measured malaria infection levels. Results were compared with baseline and midline surveys conducted in 2020 and 2019.
The findings were presented and discussed with all partners and independent scientists working in East Africa and internationally during a successful Project Advisory Committee meeting on September 24, 2021.
The results, which were somewhat surprising, showed that ProCCM had no transmission suppressing effect relative to iCCM. However, ProCCM relieved the outpatient burden in catchment area health facilities relative to iCCM, which is critical in light of severe understaffing. ProCCM also caught more severe malaria in the community, which helps to prevent malaria related mortality and the debilitating aftereffects of severe malaria. ProCCM also improved antenatal uptake of preventive care, crucial to protect newborns and mothers.
These outcomes highlight the lifesaving impact VHTs have on their communities. Community case management, coupled with vector control to prevent malaria, effectively addresses the outsize risk of malaria mortality in children under 5. As a result, NMCD, RI, MPI, World Vision (WV) and Pilgrim Africa are planning iCCM scale-up in Katakwi District for 2022.
Enormous thanks and gratitude to all those who supported the lifesaving work and research executed during KRMP. You supported VHTs to deliver lifesaving care to over 51,000 people, generated important evidence for policy, and provided impetus to scale up this important intervention to an entire district.
Pilgrim Africa has received a coveted four-star rating from Charity Navigator, the nation’s top charity evaluator.
The rating is based on Pilgrim Africa’s demonstration of strong financial health and its commitment to accountability and transparency.
Since 2002, using objective, data-driven analysis, Charity Navigator has awarded only the most fiscally responsible organizations a 4-star rating. In 2011, Charity Navigator added 17 metrics, focused on governance and ethical practices as well as measures of openness, to its ratings methodology. These “Accountability & Transparency” metrics, which account for 50 percent of a charity’s overall rating, reveal which charities have “best practices” that minimize the chance of unethical activities and whether they freely share basic information about their organization with their donors and other stakeholders.
“Pilgrim Africa’s coveted 4-star rating puts it in a very select group of high-performing charities,” according to Michael Thatcher, President & CEO of Charity Navigator. “Out of the thousands of nonprofits Charity Navigator evaluates, only one out of four earns 4 stars — a rating that demands rigor, responsibility and commitment to openness. Pilgrim Africa’s supporters should feel much more confident that their hard-earned dollars are being used efficiently and responsibly when it acquires such a high rating.”
The highest possible rating by Charity Navigator illustrates Pilgrim’s commitment to be a wise and effective steward of donations offered by individuals who give in trust and with the charge to impact lives. It represents Pilgrim’s commitment to good governance and highlights how we pursue our mission in a fiscally responsible way.
Pilgrim Africa’s rating and other information about charitable giving are available free of charge on www.charitynavigator.org. More detailed information about Pilgrim Africa’s rating is available to Charity Navigator site visitors who become registered users, another free service.
Blessings,
The Pilgrim Team
Thank you to all of our supporters for making the construction of the COVID Triage Center at Beacon of Hope College possible!
Construction workers have been working long hours in order to prepare the campus for the arrival of medical staff, volunteers, and patients from the community.
In the pictures above, you can see workers painting, adding tiles, and reinforcing the structures so medical teams will be able to quickly set up and start treating the community.
Construction will be completed in the following days, and we will share updates and pictures once the COVID Triage Center is up an running.
Thank you again to our supporters for challenging despair with us in the midst of the COVID crisis! Please pray for the safety of our team, and the people of Uganda.
Blessings,
The Pilgrim Team
(This GoFundMe campaign has been completed)
COVID-19 is spreading rapidly throughout Africa. The BBC says “Uganda is of particular concern, recording a 131% week-on-week rise in cases, with isolation centres and intensive care units under strain.” Fewer than 2% of the Ugandan population has received even a first dose of vaccine and nearly 20% of all COVID tests are coming back positive.
Uganda’s President has now closed much of the country. Families are left without income or public support. Hospitals are overflowing with patients and are running out of space. It is urgent that we step in to help.
Pilgrim Africa has decided that Beacon of Hope School and Beacon Medical Center will be used as emergency intake centers for Soroti Regional Hospital for as long as schools remain closed to students.
This will offer rapid relief for the hospital and for patients who would not otherwise be seen. We will provide initial testing, triage and some patient care.
This is a massive undertaking in a short amount of time and we need your help.
We need to modify the school for medical use and then return the facilities to their school layout when students are allowed to return. The cost for this work is $40,000. We have initial commitments for just under $10,000.
Will you join us in providing the emergency medical services needed during this critical time? Your gift will allow the Soroti Regional Hospital, in partnership with Pilgrim, to save many lives in Uganda.
You can donate today at our GoFundMe (Our campaign is no longer active at this time).
Thank you for your support and prayers!
Pilgrim Africa Team
SOWETO, South Africa—Sello Kgoale watched his neighbors shuttling back and forth with looted liquor, refrigerators and flat-screen televisions. There were no police at a nearby mall, they told him, so the 46-year-old father of three joined the thousands-strong mob ransacking the shopping center and filled three bags with rice, cooking oil and paraffin for his family’s cooking stove.
“I’ve never done anything like this before. I’m ashamed,” he said last week, sitting in his corrugated-iron shack. “But we just keep getting hit.”
—
The violence and hopelessness seen in this article from today’s Wall Street Journal are being repeated throughout Africa.
It is not enough that our Pilgrim Africa field team is placing their lives on the line as they visit the sick, they have no human protection from mobs and roving bands of criminals; and even from hopeless neighbors.
Please add our team to your prayer list and support their work financially at PilgrimAfrica.org. They are not hopeless and continue to serve in the name of Jesus, whatever may come.
#hopeisthework
https://www.wsj.com/articles/covid-pandemic-south-africa-riots-a-warning-for-developing-world-11626711622?st=h550x08t3nac7lq&reflink=desktopwebshare_permalink
On Sunday the President of Uganda announced that all schools will be closed for the next 42 days, and that only local travel will be allowed as they have started to see a significant second wave of COVID-19.
Just like the first wave, Uganda is acting firmly to keep COVID-19 from spreading more significantly. They kept the transmission rate quite low this last year due to their strict measures, and we expect that to be the case with this current short-term order.
However, on June 4th, Uganda registered its highest single day record with 1259 confirmed cases, at a positivity rate of 17%. Because the number of severe cases and deaths is higher than in the first wave, many fear a second full lockdown.
These new restrictions create logistical and financial issues for Pilgrim, as our malarial work will be made more difficult by travel restrictions. And Beacon of Hope’s income will be reduced as the school is closed for the next six weeks.
During the Pilgrim Uganda Board Meeting this past weekend the lockdown was discussed. We are committed to continue our work through our Village Health Teams, malarial research, and partnership with Beacon of Hope School during this second wave, and are prioritizing the safety of our team.
Please join us in praying for the Ugandan community during this difficult and scary time.
On April 25, we celebrated World Malaria Day! World Malaria Day is when we mark successes in the fight against malaria, highlight the responsibility we all have to end malaria within a generation and urge leaders to step up the fight and get us closer to a malaria-free world.
While celebrations usually take place at the National level and are organized by the Ministry of Health National Malaria Control Division, this year they were organized at the regional level with the districts taking lead in organizing the celebrations, with support from the local IPs. Soroti district was selected to host the event in the eastern region, Arua for West Nile/ North and Kamwenge for Central and Western. The theme for this year was “Domestic Financing for Malaria – The Time is now” and the slogan was “Awakening the call to Chase Malaria to zero.”
Pilgrim conducted an exhibition on Entomological surveillance that included; Larval Source Management (LSM), CDC light traps, and PSC. During the parade Pilgrim led with a banner, and showed up in the fight to draw the line against malaria. Through our work, we will continue to determine the best avenues to drive high transmission areas to elimination!
National exam dates are quickly approaching for the candidate students at Beacon of Hope School!
Our Senior 4 students start their exams on February 26th, and our Senior 6 students start their exams on April 9th. Both teachers and students have been working hard to make up for over 6 months of missed school due to the COVID-19 school closure in March.
Please join us as we pray for our candidate students, as passing their exams will allow our Senior 4 students to move to the next grade, and Senior 6 students to attend university.
As COVID-19 sweeps through Uganda, our Village Health Teams (VHTs) have had to adapt to new safety guidelines. Finishing out Phase II of the KRMP malaria study, the VHTs are actively serving children who are suffering with malaria, pneumonia, and diarrhea. But now, our team also faces the threat of COVID-19.
In the onset of the pandemic, our VHTs received COVID-19 safety training and were given personal protective gear so they could continue to work in the villages. Being advised to not meet with anyone in their home, VHTs now do all their testing outdoors, practicing social distancing for their own safety and that of the community members.
Our VHTs were among the first to receive no touch thermometers, allowing them to test first for fevers, and then for malaria if a fever is present. If the patient has a fever but tests negative for malaria, they can then be referred for COVID-19 testing.
The services our VHTs provide to rural communities in Uganda are crucial. The risk to their own health is real, but they continue to serve.
Please join us as we pray for the health and safety of our VHTs as they provide lifesaving treatment to the poorest of the poor during this time.
For many students in the U.S., the pandemic has forced them to engage in online learning for the rest of this school year, and possibly the next. But how is the pandemic affecting our students at Beacon of Hope, many who do not have access to a computer or Wifi, making online learning impossible?
Here is an overview:
Please join us in praying for our students, their families, and our teachers.
Earlier this month, Pilgrim Africa entered an amazing partnership with Project Ranger, a consortium of conservation organizations headed by the Great Plains Foundation, in an effort to protect the endangered wild mountain gorillas in Uganda.
COVID-19 has threatened the well being of these beautiful creatures through the halt of global tourism. This has resulted in a major funding gap for rangers, causing poaching to be an ever-present danger for these animals.
Through Project Ranger, we are joining an innovative anti-poaching partnership that will provide resources for the rangers to carry out their regular anti-poaching patrols to save the wild mountain gorillas during this dangerous time.
Click the following links to see how this amazing partnership has been featured:
Thank you to the Clarence & Anne Dillon Dunwalke Trust for making this partnership possible!
We’ve just received a $23k grant to do remote education at Beacon of Hope School. A massive THANK YOU to The Allen Family Foundation for this game-changing grant! We can now purchase tablets and internet access for all 80 A-level candidate students and instructors for the 5 remaining months of the school year.
We will be providing IT support as well. This grant will allow our students to access online educational materials like their more advantaged peers in urban centers, and to study for their national exams. This grant truly levels the playing field.
The tablets will have an important “life beyond the pandemic”. The tablets will become property of the school, to be redistributed for use by next year’s incoming Senior 6 class. Our eventual hope is to provide tablets for IT instruction to the whole student body, as an essential part of preparing young women and men for the 21st century. We are thrilled to start with this year’s candidate class.
With relationships across tribes, races, countries and continents, Pilgrim Africa stands in solidarity with the fight against the evil of racial injustice, in all of its forms and wherever it is found.
The centuries of systemic racism in America are the antithesis of our values and goals as a Christian organization. We believe all human beings are made in the image of God, and that racism mocks the words of Jesus: “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.”
We believe the murders of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery—and countless other Black lives lost in the United States due to brutality and racism—are fundamentally unjust. The ongoing abuse of the Black community damages our world, choking out the intelligence, innovation, creativity, and peace that is born from diverse collaboration.
To be anti-racist requires more than statements and mere intellectual assent. We must work within the bonds of real relationship, with humility and perseverance, to dismantle unjust systems and create policies that affirm the struggles of real people.
Join us in this time as we listen, reflect, and seek God’s mercy in prayer. Together.
“We love because he first loved us. Whoever claims to love God yet hates a brother or sister is a liar. For whoever does not love their brother and sister, whom they have seen, cannot love God, whom they have not seen. And he has given us this command: Anyone who loves God must also love their brother and sister.”
1 John 4:19-21
We are excited to announce that we have partnered with Global Cause on the 2020 Fight Against Malaria campaign!
Dr. Dorothy Echodu, Pilgrim Africa’s CEO is featured in a piece that shares how Uganda’s progress offers hope in the malaria fight.
Read more on the importance of stepping up commitment and investment to end malaria from Dr. Echodu and other experts and industry leaders in the Guardian on June 3rd, 2020.
With only 58 cases reported so far, the entire nation of Uganda is on lockdown. Transport in any vehicle that is not government-sanctioned (including private cars and motorcycles) is forbidden, and several women in labor lost their lives in the last few weeks because they were unable to reach a hospital in time. Those who wish to keep food markets open must choose to sleep employees on site. As in many other countries, people have lost jobs and livelihoods in the economic slowdown caused by the lockdown.
But here, there is no health insurance, no paid leave, no unemployment to apply for, no food bank to go to, no individual subsidies, no loans to businesses, and a dwindling national food supply. Many Ugandans are in danger of not surviving the lockdown.
COVID-19 hasn’t killed anyone here yet. Malaria’s still the primary Grim Reaper. But Ugandans are no strangers to other deadly viruses, Ebola among them, which is part of why the response has been so swift. Internet is slow, strained and only available to a certain segment of society, mostly in urban centers. As a result there is not a lot of accurate information getting out to rural areas about COVID-19. Low levels of information lead to higher levels of fear.
Despite the challenges, we are not without hope. In fact, we know we need more than ever to do what we do: Love boldly, create catalytic change, and partner well. Here is what Pilgrim Africa is doing now to mitigate and address the effects of the COVID-19 crisis:
VHTs receiving their protective personal equipment
Right now, COVID isn’t killing anyone in Uganda. Malaria is. Our VHTs are already doing lifesaving work, and we are doing everything we can to ensure their safety and adapt to a new threat. We are also working to ensure that COVID-19 won’t be a deadly scourge in a Uganda under-equipped to meet the demand of care for critically ill patients.
We are working on other partnering initiatives as well to help the country in the current crisis, and will be updating you on these soon. For everyone in the world right now, coronavirus is changing all the rules and upsetting the status quo. In Uganda, there’s potential to manage those changes proactively and well to avoid great disaster. We are focusing on what Pilgrim Africa does best: fostering hope by creating a local and actionable, if ambitious and visionary, plan for a sustainable, prosperous healthy future.
Stay safe, and love boldly.
Moses, who’s been the Sponsorship Officer since Pilgrim’s inception in 2001, knows all too intimately the joys and pains of informing children whether or not they get sponsored to attend school.
There are countless children like Racheal here, children who hope and hunger for nothing more than the right to an education. Informing their yearning faces that we can’t afford to enroll any more students is a wholly heart-wrenching experience. It is an honor to help people achieve the basic needs of education, food, medication that they’ve been denied. I look into the eyes of these children and their eyes are asking for intervention in their future.
Will you intervene for one of these children?
The hardest moments in my job is telling children that we can’t afford to enroll any more students. You can see that they have no alternative, especially for those barely living off of one meal a day. I’ve had many children follow me to school, pleading to be accepted. One girl walked over 50 km with her luggage on her head just looking for an education; another girl sat on the compound until we took her in; she eventually graduated and went to university.
Everyone has potential; education can be the key to unlocking it.
I have seen the children uplift the school, climbing ladders of success and excellence. I worry where these students would be or what would become of their immense potential if they had been left in the camps, bushes, or villages.
There are more children left in the camps, in the bush, among villages lacking access to education, will you sponsor them?
You can support students by giving the gift of HOPE using our Giving Catalog!
My name is Racheal Atuko and I am an 18-year-old student at Beacon of Hope College.
My family has been very poor and broken since childhood and yet, I am a firm believer in the phrase ‘things happen for a reason’. When my father refused to pay for my schooling, my mother dumped me at BOH with no money and moved away. When I found a mass in my breast, I couldn’t afford the surgery or painkillers that I needed. Doctors feared I had breast cancer. I experienced various levels of pain due to my medical condition and my family’s abandonment. But, I believe this all led me to BOH and there I found a community I could rely on.
I feel like I’m the luckiest to have joined BOH. This school has been a life-changing blessing for me, like a small, happy family where I find my peace and strength. My financial state meant that I couldn’t afford food, school supplies, or even my breast surgery, and I often felt so alone and miserable. But through all this, my friends and teachers at BOH reassured and supported me in every way (my friends even paid for my surgery); they were the family that did not abandon me.
I believe things happen for a reason; I believe all the pain I endured led me to the love I found at BOH; I believe you are reading this now so I can tell you that people like me exist—people whose lives have been saved from misery and brightened by BOH.
Your support is so important to us because, without Beacon of Hope, our lives would have been forever lost in the brokenness of poverty and sickness. But thanks to you, we are studying, we are provided for, we are loved. So, thank you for providing for us and I implore you to please continue your generosity; there are more like me.
May God bless you,
Racheal Atuko
P.S. You are reading this for a reason.
SEATTLE—Pilgrim Africa’s health clinic, Beacon Medical Center, continues to provide care that is instrumental to the community of Soroti, Uganda.
Beacon Medical Center is a private medical clinic located next to Beacon of Hope College. Classified as a Health Center II, it provides out-patient medical care for the community of Soroti and Beacon of Hope students and staff.
The healthcare system structure of Uganda is organized as a tiered, decentralized medical system and is federally funded under the Ministry of Health.
The district of Soroti houses a population of approximately 297,000 people according to the 2014 National Population and Housing Census, with 53 health facilities. Out of the health facilities, 23 are classified as Health Center IIs. For comparison, the city of Spokane has a population of about 217,000 and has over 65 health clinics of similar scale and ability.
Beacon Medical Center effectively utilizes its resources to continually provide accessible care for the community. At only 900 square feet and 7 beds, Beacon Medical Center serves nearly 1,000 people a month—most of whom are students at Beacon of Hope. On average, Beacon Medical receives and treats 30 people a day within their 10-hour work window. When the staff recognized this was not long enough to adequately care for their patients, they added an additional two hours each day—volunteering to forego any additional pay.
A typical month at the Beacon Medical Center involves treating patients for malaria, respiratory tract infections, typhoid, urinary tract infections, diarrhea, skin infections, intestinal worms, peptic ulcer disease, and more.
The most common conditions treated in September 2019 were malaria, respiratory tract infections, and peptic ulcer disease. A detailed second look at patients treated in the month of September reflects 60% were students, 30% were community members, and 10% were school staff.
The five staff running Beacon Medical Center are passionate and dedicated to serving their community and improving the health of others. This philosophy has strengthened Beacon Medical’s alliance with Beacon of Hope, and opened opportunities for past students. Sam Eibu, a former Beacon of Hope student, is now a lab technician for the clinic.
What makes Beacon Medical Center so important out of all the other health centers?
Beacon Medical Center provides care to our students at Beacon of Hope in a format that prevents them from sacrificing their education. Its close proximity to the campus and care that values prevention and health maintenance translates to more students able to spend their time learning instead of traveling for healthcare or staying home ill.
Beacon Medical Center serves and touches hundreds of patients’ lives each month, lifting them up when they are in their most vulnerable state. Beacon Medical Center is for the community, by the community.
In Uganda, the number of children in attendance drastically plummets from primary to secondary school. Census data from 2004 indicates that for every ten students in primary schools, only one is enrolled in secondary schools. Pilgrim Africa has assumed a comprehensive approach in our mission to remedy this: our malaria research, clinics, and scholarships work together to circumvent the challenges of poverty and sickness that prevent most Ugandan children from their education.
Most recently, Pilgrim Africa has adopted another approach to fulfill this mission—the Annex Renovations. These renovations are seeing abandoned and derelict buildings transformed into fully furnished classrooms, dormitories, latrines, and kitchen spaces.
Our vision of sustainability is infused throughout these renovations as we have implemented solar panels with back-up battery charging systems, and a rainwater catchment tank (which is already filled with fresh water from the seasonal rains).
Though final renovations are still ongoing, the dormitories were opened to the students in September. This was a joyous and exciting event for them since, compared to their previous overcrowded dorms, these new dorms provided them with spacious living quarters and healthier living conditions. A houseparent also expressed his enthusiasm that the children “would finally have access to reliable light and decent bathrooms.”
On the left below, you’ll see the old dormitories, and pictured on the right below are the new bed frames in the new dormitory on the Annex property.
These dorms also increase our school’s enrollment capacity. The dorms currently house 154 of our 658 students, but next year they will be able to house 300 extra students—that’s 300 more Ugandan children receiving an education year over year!
The Annex Renovations serves as an example of Pilgrim Africa’s dedication to Uganda’s children and as a reminder that anything can be given new life and transformed into something meaningful and instrumental.
THANK YOU to The Zarmada Giving Fund for making these renovations possible!
While the months of June to September are historically high transmission periods, 2019 has seen a higher number of malaria cases than typically recorded in the past. July 2018 recorded 948,136 malaria cases, compared to an 83% increase of 1,731,701 cases in July 2019.
In total, approximately 1.7 million people have been infected with malaria between June and August, and the numbers continue to climb.
As of September 24th, 2019, the Ministry of Health reported a majority of the country was still under priority epidemic level malaria disease burden. With high malaria burden also comes high malaria mortality, leading to malaria deaths recording at 2.5 times greater in 2019 than 2018. Most alarmingly, 72% of the deaths recorded occurred in children under 5 years old.
This upsurge in malaria is believed to have been exacerbated by climate change. As the climate warms, weather patterns and average temperatures have changed in parts of Uganda, enabling the disease carrying mosquitoes to spread and live in more areas.
As cited by the Ugandan Ministry of Health, prolonged intermittent rains have facilitated new and additional mosquito breeding sites, since mosquitoes breed in virtually any and every form of stagnant water. Therefore, the malaria vector mosquitoes have substantially increased in density.
Despite these disheartening reports, the district involved in the Katakwi Rotary Malaria Project (KRMP) with Pilgrim Africa was not reported as a district with a malaria upsurge. The Katakwi district has consistently been reported as a lower priority region and a declining epidemic district, with test positivity trends failing to reach the highest crisis threshold. Fortunately, zero deaths were reported in the September 24th Malaria Situation Report, a weekly status report of malaria in Uganda released by the Ministry of Health. Below details key indicators used in monitoring the burden of malaria across Uganda, the district of Katakwi is outlined in blue.
As the threat of malaria has increased across Uganda, Pilgrim Africa has answered the local calls to action. By spraying neighboring parish regions with mosquito insecticide, we have hope that this preventative measure will provide more security against the disease, and peace of mind for the local villagers.
Join us in fighting the ravenous disease that is malaria. Donate and help save lives today.
There has been a huge upsurge in malaria across Uganda in the last month or so, and in the last week the rapid rise in deaths and cases of malaria have made world news. Katakwi is blessed to be at a relatively low level of malaria because of the interventions conducted under the Katakwi Rotary Malaria Project, but upsurges across the country can rapidly impact populations who have recently gotten malaria under control.
More than one million people have been infected with malaria in Uganda in the past two months, and since last year, deaths from severe malaria are up 250%.
“The health ministry has attributed the rapid rise partly to climate change, with the disease now appearing in regions that were previously malaria-free thanks to a mild climate.
The government said there had also been a reduction in use of mosquito bed-nets, as those distributed in 2017 had begun to age.” BBC News, August 2019
It’s upsetting, coming on the heels of a really spectacular Uganda Malaria Indicator Survey conducted in November of 2018, which showed that country prevalence had dropped below 9% — a drop of over 50% since the survey in 2014.
We must not lose the progress that’s been made!
In Pilgrim Africa’s project area, all village health team members (VHTs) received medicines and mobile phones this week, and are busy protecting fellow community members by testing and treating them for malaria on a regular basis. The VHTs have also recently distributed nets treated with novel effective insecticides. These bed nets are critical in making sure people are safe from the ongoing onslaught of mosquitoes.
Pictured: VHTs receiving their boxes of medical supplies and new bikes.
But not all families in Uganda are as well protected as the families in Katakwi. Along with other malaria partners in Uganda, we’ve been asked to help at a national level, to provide both nets and spraying where needed. Our ability to respond to this upsurge depends upon your generous support.
Your prayers are desired — and your help — are needed and appreciated!
Let’s stop this resurgence before it destroys Uganda’s fragile gains — and her people.
“Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.”
~ Galatians 6:9
This June, I had the pleasure of traveling to Uganda for the first time with the winners of last year’s Pilgrim Africa trip at our annual Jasiri auction. On one of our packed days, we toured the Katakwi Rotary Malaria Project, an innovative project Pilgrim Africa is doing in partnership with Rotary International and the President’s Malaria Initiative, with support from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.
Located a bumpy, 45-minute drive past Pilgrim Africa’s high school in Soroti township is Toroma subcounty in Katakwi District, home to Pilgrim Africa’s field office for the Katakwi Rotary Malaria Project (KRMP). On the drive, we pass cattle calmly grazing in the floodplains and the occasional grouping of hut houses. We are gently jostled, receiving what’s fondly referred to as an “African massage”, while the tires kick up Uganda’s iconic red clay.
As we walked into the office, the KRMP team was focused on the beginning of our Phase II KRMP project, a comparative effectiveness trial of two different kinds of community case management. The day we visited, the team was analyzing results from the baseline survey for Phase II. This survey also acts as the final survey for Phase I.
Meet Sally and Ema, our microscopy specialists
Sally and Ema examine thin bloodsmears collected from people living in randomly selected households in the project area to determine how many people have the malaria parasite in their blood. Their work is critical to analyzing how well interventions of Indoor Residual Spraying (IRS), mass drug administration (MDA), and long-lasting insecticidal nets (LLINs) have worked over the last two and a half years to reduce malaria prevalence in Katakwi. The baseline for Phase II allows measurement of future community case management effectiveness in keeping those malaria transmission rates low. Survey results will be ready soon.
VHT training for community case management
Currently the KRMP team is busy preparing the last week of a 5-week training process for the Village Health Teams (VHTs) who will conduct integrated community case management for malaria, diarrhea, and pneumonia throughout the project area over the next two years. All 210 VHTs have been trained to conduct testing and treating for these common household killers, to counsel and educate caregivers on net use, nutrition, and postnatal infant care, but also to enter data on mobile phones. We can’t wait to see them graduate and begin their important work in the community!