Save For Health Uganda

About

SHU was born out of conviction and concern for the people in greater Luwero district, which included Nakaseke and Nakasongola, facing real health challenges where community members were dying at home because the health care bills were catastrophic. Many who dared to go could either escape from hospitals or get detained after recovery until the hospital bills were paid. This is a common phenomenon in many rural poor communities in Uganda. Centre International de Dévelopementet de Recherche (CIDR), a French development organisation had piloted a community health financing (CHF) project in Luwero for three years. The evaluation showed that not much result was achieved and the organisation wound up activities in Uganda. The community mindset needed to be changed and that required long term investment. The young graduates who comprised the local staff of CIDR were convinced that the CHF approach could work and had the vision to see it grow. The staff were moved by the suffering of people who were facing hardships raising money to pay health care bills. The local staff team negotiated with CIDR to continue with the project but under new management, hence SHU was born in 2002 and officially registered in March 2003. The reasons for establishing SHU were: to address the financial challenges people were facing in accessing health care services; empower the communities on how to generate resources to finance their health care needs; and improve people’s access to health care services. The founders wanted to see a productive and healthy community, able to access health care services and not sell their assets in distress, for treatment. What started as a pilot project in Luwero district has now expanded to other districts of: Nakaseke, Nakasongola, Mubende, Mityana, Sheema, Bushenyi, Masaka, Mitooma and Kampala.