During 2018/19, we continued to support the work of our Ugandan partner, the Mulago and Makerere Palliative Care Unit (MMPCU) in Kampala. Funds were provided for their volunteer programme and the post of Information Nurse. They have been training both the volunteers, to extend their skill sets and also through a Link Nurse training scheme, raising awareness of palliative care across the general nursing cohort. The new volunteer teams are now well established and embedded within the local church community, proving this to be a robust and effective model, with many benefits to patients.
MMPCU celebrated their 10th anniversary in 2018, and marked this with an international conference on the theme of ‘Building momentum for Palliative Care’. Liz and Mike Minton were visiting Kampala again at the same time, and were delighted to accept a certificate on behalf of UCTUK thanking us for our contribution to the work of MMPCU.
During this year, we have developed links with Uganda Cancer Society, aimed at supporting their objective of providing a Patient Sanctuary in Kampala; a place for patients and carers to find help and information, someone to talk through their problems with, or just sit and be quiet for a while. This is an ambitious project that will be our main focus for the next year.
The Oxford Blackfriars Overseas Aid Trust have been particularly generous in supporting the funding of Liz Nabirye as Information Nurse. But as always many different people and organisations have also supported us, so I hope this report will give a flavour of the work we are trying to do and the use we are making of your generous help. It is now 10 years since we established UCTUK, and many individuals have benefited because of this, so another big thank you to everyone; please do keep on supporting us.
Christine Whitehouse
Chair