The National Organisation for People Living with Hepatitis B
COVID-19 Response
On 21st March 2020, the first case of COVID-19 in Uganda was reported!
COVID-19 found a healthcare system that was struggling with the quality of service and the level of access to medical care by Hepatitis B patients especially in rural communities.
The lockdowns made it even worse for the HepB patients to access timely healthcare. In an effort to contribute to better care for HepB patients during the COVID-19 early epoch in Uganda, NOPLHB worked with its partners to have:
Health Workers
200 frontline health workers oriented on the management of COVID-19 and handling of emergencies among HepB clients in Uganda
Health Facilities
Equipped high volume health facilities with over 90 Personal Protective Equipment to ensure safety of frontline workers
Face Masks
Distributed 3000 face-masks and 1000 sanitizers to individual beneficiaries (HepB clients and household members) as a measure of preventing the spread of COVID-19
Food
500 vulnerable direct beneficiaries and 1000 indirect beneficiaries whose food security was threatened, were supported with food supplements to boost their immunity
We also gave Vitamin C & Zinc as an approach that continued to boost immunity among highly vulnerable HepB infected and affected households.
All these contributed to mitigating the impact of COVID-19 on both the delivery of essential services, but also this promoted a positive attitude among HepB infected and affected individuals with respect to observing health measures/SOPs countering COVID-19.