Nonprofit Health Uganda Helps Fill in Where USAID Left Off

Patients at the Mbarara Regional Referral Hospital in southern Uganda still lack easy access to procedures that are commonplace in much of the U.S. – including scopes and scans that can save lives in an emergency. But that’s starting to change, in part from the modest help provided by a small and young Boston-area nonprofit called Health Uganda, or HUG. The group just recently made a gastroscope donation to the hospital – Mbarara’s second such scope – and its first colonoscope donation.

“Before this,” said Dr. Michelle Lai, “if you were bleeding out, you couldn’t get a colonoscopy.”

Lai, an internal medicine and gastroenterology doctor at Beth Israel hospital in Boston, was talking before a small group of doctors and volunteers who met on a rainy Sunday in mid-October at a downtown lounge. The goal of the meeting: work on strategies for raising funding and promoting their nonprofit, whose mission has become more urgent since recent cuts to U.S. healthcare initiatives abroad.

A Big 'Hug' for Uganda: Jenna Gustafson, Jeffrey Duryea, Ellis Brewer, Lori Chibnik, Michelle Lai, Dave Brophy and Samantha Shin. Photo by Adam Smith.

Lai said the scopes might seem like small steps – many major U.S. hospitals have dozens on hand at any given time – but for a poor region like southern Uganda, the equipment can mean the difference between life and death. Just the time to sanitize one scope is around 45 minutes, said Lai. And their cost, even when used, can run near $20,000 for a complete setup. Yet having them on hand can help with diagnosis and treatment of gastrointestinal diseases such as esophageal cancer and other cancers and internal bleeding. The group has also helped provide needed equipment like biopsy forceps and medical clips used to prevent bleeding. So far Health Uganda’s contributions have helped establish the first -- and at this time the only -- public colonoscopy program in southwest Uganda.

“Could you imagine running our department without even one colonoscope?” asked Lai to the group of her healthcare colleagues.

Now, Health Uganda, which incorporated in 2023, is trying to gather 200 people to sign up for its mailing list so it can qualify for a $25,000 grant.

The group is led by Dr. Kathleen Corey, an associate professor in medicine at Harvard Medical School and a physician at Massachusetts General Hospital; Lai, also an associate professor in medicine at Harvard; Dr. Samson Okello who had provided care at Mbarara; and Samantha Burke, a student at Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine.

HUG’s leaders say the funding has become more urgent since the White House slashed funding for the U.S. Agency for International Development, commonly referred to as USAID. Mbarara Regional Referral Hospital was a recipient of funding, including for HIV/AIDS care. And the AIDS epidemic had left a huge scar on Uganda, a nation with a population of around 48 million people, and where HIV/AIDS is still a leading cause of death along with other diseases and infections like malaria.

“I witnessed firsthand what a hammering it was to see the slashing of USAID,” said Lori Chibnik, an associate professor in the Department of Epidemiology at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. Chibnik, who was at the Health Uganda meeting, said she traveled to Eastern Africa in February and the region’s healthcare was devastated by the loss of the aid.

“The shutting down of USAID shutdown everything,” she said.

HUG is trying to step in by continuing to provide nutrition support, clinical and necessary endoscopic supplies as well as training. Its future goals include providing ultrasound and fibroscan, which will help with liver disease diagnosis, said Lai.

“Our biggest need right now,” said Lai, “is to spread the word.”

For the more, see https://www.ugandahealth.org/.

This story contains some edits since it was first posted, including a correction to the name Samantha Burke.