UGANDA: History

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Uganda History w194 Since the establishment of the Family Planning Association of Uganda in the 1957, Pathfinder has been a leader in providing reproductive health, family planning, and, more recently, HIV/AIDS services to the country. During the political turmoil of the Idi Amin regime in the 1970s, when most bilateral development assistance was withdrawn from Uganda, Pathfinder was the only US-based reproductive health organization that continued activities in the country. This commitment inspired loyalty among local partners that persists to this day.

Pathfinder has since partnered with an array of organizations, including church development programs, non-government organizations, the Ugandan Ministry of Health and other ministries and public sector agencies, universities, employers, community-based grassroots organizations, and professional or public interest groups. Pathfinder works through these organizations by providing technical assistance, information, and financial support. Highlights from over the years include:

In 1986 Pathfinder worked with the Church of Uganda to introduce the Family Life Education Project (FLEP) as part of the Multi-Sector Rural Development Program of the Diocese of Busoga in eastern Uganda. FLEP pioneered the use of non-medical personnel for delivering family planning services and providing information, education, and communication at the community level. FLEP village health workers distributed condoms and contraceptives, referred clients for clinical care, and offered an array of other reproductive health services. Many subsequent projects in the country have been based on this successful model.
The FLEP program eventually outgrew its position as an arm of the diocesan program and became a full-fledged non-government organization in 1994. The “P” in its name was changed from “Project” to “Program” to reflect its new status. Operating from its headquarters in Jinja, FLEP now provides technical assistance and training to fledgling reproductive health organizations in addition to its own continuing service delivery. The clean and spacious FLEP headquarters, built with Pathfinder assistance, house a clinic, small theater, consulting and counseling areas, and a large training and conference room.
In 1989, Pathfinder pioneered a community home-based care (CHBC) initiative for people living with HIV/AIDS in collaboration with both Christian and Islamic faith-based organizations. Relying on volunteer community health workers to regularly visit homes and teach family members how to provide emotional support and physical care to relatives living with the disease, Pathfinder’s early work with HIV-infected individuals in Uganda became the basis for the model home-based care program that Pathfinder continues to implement in Kenya and Tanzania.
In 1991 Pathfinder again cooperated with the Church of Uganda to establish family planning services within a diocesan structure, this time with the Diocese of East Ankole. The project featured a team effort with input by the Diocese, Mbarana University, and district level Ministry of Health officers. University medical students worked in the communities to complement community-based service providers. Activities related to HIV/AIDS and immunizations were added to the service menu. By the time Pathfinder support phased out in 1998, ten clinics had been established.
In another partnership with the Church of Uganda's Diocese of Bunyoro- Kitara, Pathfinder set up health centers in ten camps in Masindi where previously there were only skeleton health services. The centers were built and maintained with funds mobilized by community residents, with drugs and other components supported by subcontracts with the local governments. More than one hundred local women—ten in each camp—were trained in community-based service delivery. Five adolescent peer educators were also been trained in each camp to address adolescent reproductive health issues.
At a higher level, Pathfinder has worked with the Ugandan Ministry of Health to develop policy and service guidelines and training curricula for postabortion care and for home-based care for people living with HIV/AIDS. The home-based care curriculum and its accompanying Home Care Handbook were published as joint MOH/Pathfinder publications.

Currently, Pathfinder is involved in numerous projects in Uganda with a particular focus on the availability of reproductive health and family planning services in conflict settings.