Our Projects
Mission Mannya carries out its purpose alleviating health inequity by providing medical support and supplies to impoverished communities in South West Uganda. It does this by running a series of free of charge, pop-up medical outreach clinics on an annual basis.
Our programs are designed and coordinated by local Ugandan healthcare leaders, in particular the management of St Bernard’s Mannya Health Centre under the stewardship of the health centre clinician in charge, Vincent Kyeswa. This ensures that the final product is tailored to the needs of local communities. Mission Mannya’s Australian medical body provides reviews and suggestions to plans but the majority of the initial pitching and design is conducted locally in order to maximise our impact.
In advance of our medical outreach program, Mission Mannya’s financial resources are mobilised to purchase necessary materials and medications, hire vehicles, secure appropriate licenses, and pay the honouraria of local dentists, medical officers, surgeons, anesthetists, nutritionists and administrative staff. In total, 91 people were involved in carrying out our 2023 program. All Australian members of our programs volunteer their time and pay their own transport costs to reach Uganda.
On the ground, we set up medical camps in selected community safe spaces- schools or medical centres. Here patients received a free private consultation with an Australian doctor (accompanied by a medical student and a Ugandan interpreter), local dentist or nutritionist. Any available tests that were required were run and any prescriptions written were filled on site, free of charge. If required, detailed referrals to specialists were written and explained to patients. As a second arm to our program, we also provide resources for a number of patients to undergo necessary surgery locally with surgeons and an anesthetist commissioned with our resources, free of charge to the patient.
2023 MISSION
In 2023, Mission Mannya ran seven outreach programs over the course of 12 days. We visited the communities of Lwensinga, Kagongero, Kisaasa, Busibo, Namabaale, Buyaga and Mannya. In this time, 1796 people were able to receive free medical consultation and care, and a further 525 people received health education at our outreach camps. Three Australian doctors volunteered for the program with further support from five medical students who also donated their time. Treatments offered included primary health care and medications, dental care, nutritional screening and the facilitation of minor surgical procedures. Additionally, training and education sessions were conducted between local and visiting medical staff.
The impact of this medical care is significant to communities who routinely have no means of accessing even basic medical treatment. As such, Mission Mannya aims to continue to expand its services to help more individuals in need.
2024 MISSION
In 2024 we plan to conduct a very similar project between December 2nd and December 14th. We will follow the plan of our previous trip with adjustments guided by our local contacts. We will seek the support of eight Australian volunteers- four doctors and four medical students. Through the learnings of our prior trip and the support of an extra Australian doctor we hope to improve our efficiency and be able to consult on a greater number of patients in a similar amount of time.
The effectiveness of our projects will be under continual review. Whilst we have free flowing communication with our partners, we also arrange for a formal review meeting at the end of each trip with St Bernard’s Mannya Health Centre clinician in charge and other local leaders to discuss strengths and weaknesses as well as potential areas of growth. Financial and activity reports are also prepared by the clinician in charge to detail and learn from our efforts.
Moving forward, we strive to conduct our medical outreach programs on at least an annual basis. Whilst initially we will arrange our programs in similar locations, we will continue to work with local leaders like the management of St Bernard’s Mannya Health Centre to best direct our resources to the needs of the local communities.