Pediatric care and fight against malnutrition

In Northern Uganda, Soleterre supports the Pediatric Unit of the Gulu Regional Hospital of Reference for children between 0 and 5 years with acute diseases and an intervention based on Primary Health Care in seven Districts.
Uganda is one of the poorest countries in the world, with a Human Development Index of 0.446 (2011), which ranks it at 161st place in 187 countries. In the north of the country, a region ravaged by twenty-year internal conflicts, the poverty rate is about twice that of the rest of the country and children are the main victims.
The major causes of infant mortality are related to easily treatable diseases such as diarrhea, acute respiratory infections and malaria; malnutrition is responsible for 30% of child deaths under 5 years.
Since 2011 Soleterre has been collaborating with the Raffaella Cuccia Pediatric Block at the Gulu Hospital in Northern Uganda. In past years we have provided for the restructuring and equipping of the pediatric block and we are currently working on extending it with the aim of being able to provide support to more than 5,000 children and their mothers.