Uganda elective 2018
We're trying to raise £2000 to visit Kagando Hospital in Uganda on a medical elective.
about us
My name is Kitty and I'm currently a fourth year medical student at Manchester University. I will be accompanied on the trip by Steve, a fellow medical student from Cambridge University. We met whilst at school in York, and have remained friends ever since. We got very lucky that our electives are at the same time!
the plan
We're hoping that this will be more than just an elective. We have strong links not only to Kagando hospital but also to 'Accomplish' - a charity helping disabled children and their families. We therefore plan to get involved with outreach and community projects.
We also plan to undertake an ethics-based research project focused on informed consent. Relatively few studies look at this issue in developing countries, so we are excited to try and add a new perspective to the way medical decisions are made. This will help the hospital as we plan to present our findings at a medical education session whilst in Uganda, allowing them to assess their practice to see if they are always acting in the best interests of their patients.
We have organised this project with the aim of being useful to both the hospital and Accomplish, but we also expect to gain a huge amount ourselves. The diseases and the medical practice seen in Uganda will be completely different to anything either of us has experienced before. This will equip us with invaluable knowledge for our future careers.
Where will the money go?
Some of the money donated will be needed for practical costs such as travel and accommodation. We have tried to still make this worthwhile by negotiating special travel plans and hospital accommodation - in other words, we hope you will feel that this money is still helping others!
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Kagando Hospital accommodation costs $10 (£7.25) per night - this money goes directly to the hospital
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Flights cost £510.28 each - we are negotiating with the travel company to allow us to take 2 suitcases each, meaning we can take lots of resources out to Uganda and bring back crafts to sell
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Visas cost £70 each
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Transfers from the airport to the hospital cost £150 each way (£300 total)
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We have estimated that travelling to visit outreach projects will cost £150
There will of course be additional costs such as vaccinations, insurance and expenses whilst there that we will be busy saving up for!
If we manage to exceed our target any extra money will be spent on equipment for the hospital and games, bubbles and balloons for the children we visit.
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A £5 donation could buy a tendon hammer, 48 tubes of bubbles or 200 balloons!
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A £10 donation could buy a manual sphygmomanometer (used for measuring blood pressure, an important vital sign)
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A £40 donation could buy a fetal doppler (used for monitoring babies' heart rates during pregnancy)
Rewards
We've come up with some fab rewards to help say a massive thank-you from us for anyone that donates! Have a look over at the right hand side of the page for details of these :)
Help us succeed!
We'd love you to donate - even £1 would be much appreciated.
If you can't give any money you can still help! Please share this project with anyone and everyone that could support us - the more people that know about it, the greater the chance of success.
If you'd rather give an object instead of money this is the list of equipment the hospital needs:
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Thermometers
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Bubbles
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Balloons
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Pen lights
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Tourniquets
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Stethoscopes
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Percussion hammer
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Manual sphygmomanometer
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Tuning fork
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Ophthalmoscope/otoscope with ear pieces
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Laryngoscope - small to medium blades
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Bandage scissors
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Peak flow meter
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Battery powered, handheld doppler fetoscope
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Rechargeable batteries
You're welcome to buy the equipment and give it to us to take (most things are available on amazon) or just let us know that you would like your donation to go on equipment only.
WANT MORE INFO?
If you have any questions about the project we're both more than happy to be contacted via the following:
Kitty
Email: catherine.acton@student.manchester.ac.uk
Twitter: @kittyacton
Steve
Email: sjw239@cam.ac.uk
We're also both on Facebook and will be posting regular updates about how its going!
Useful links
Kagando hospital website:
http://www.kagando.org
Accomplish website:
http://www.accomplishtrust.org.uk
