This year has turned out completely different from expected with the world borders closing and measures in place never seen before in our lifetime. Uganda has responded by closing all schools and universities, limiting movement within the country and banning international travel. People suspected or confirmed having contracted the virus are put onder hospitalized quarantine. While the infection rate in Uganda is relatively low and up now the number of deaths due to COVID-19 stands at zero, the lockdown in Uganda has far caused more effects than the virus itself.
Hundreds of thousands of people lost their job in the course of a few weeks. There are many families that already struggled from day to day before Uganda declared a lockdown and now saw the last of their income evaporate. Access to medical care is even more limited and food prices are rising. Therefore, our response is not geared towards the direct effect of the virus but rather to these indirect effects.
We are asking for your help to enable us to keep our children and community healthy, to continue treating the increasing number of malnourished children and to offer expectant mothers a safe place to give birth. For that we desperately need funds for food, protective gear and medicine as costs are rising but families have even less to spend.
One of the families we visited to check up on them and to leave behind food and necessities like soap and face masks.
