Mega Fm & Agency
Italy commits €12.75 million to maternal, child and cancer health services in northern UgandaItaly has launched a €12.75 million (about Shs58 billion) health project targeting maternal, child and cancer care in four subregions of northern Uganda.
It has been noted that Northern Uganda faces shortages of specialist services and limited access to health facilities.
The three-year project, dubbed Prevention, Research and Integrated Services for Maternal, Child and Cancer Health Care (PRISMA), is being implemented by the AVSI Foundation Uganda, with support from Italy’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation and the Italian Agency for Development Cooperation (AICS).
Running until June 2029, the project will cover West Nile, Acholi, Lango and Karamoja subregions and is expected to reach more than 500,000 people.
According to the project organisers, these areas face significant socioeconomic and health vulnerabilities, including shortages of specialist services and limited access to care, particularly for women of reproductive age, pregnant women, newborns and children under five.
The programme will also support early diagnosis and treatment of cancers affecting women, particularly cervical and breast cancer, as well as childhood cancers such as Burkitt lymphoma. It is expected to strengthen the regional branch of the Uganda Cancer Institute (UCI) in Gulu.
Speaking at the project launch at AVSI offices in Kampala, John Makokha, the AVSI Foundation Uganda Country Representative, said the programme would address gaps in access to specialised healthcare while strengthening existing health services.
The project brings together several Italian and Ugandan institutions, including the San Gerardo dei Tintori Foundation, the College of University Aspirants for Missionary Doctors (CUAMM), the Ambrosoli Memorial Hospital Foundation, the Piero and Lucille Corti Foundation, Gulu University and the Uganda Cancer Institute.
However, leaders of some of the participating health facilities used the launch to highlight the financial pressures facing private not-for-profit hospitals, warning that their founding organisations and development partners cannot continue meeting the growing cost of healthcare without stronger government support.
Dominique Atim Corti, President of the Piero and Lucille Corti Foundation, which supports St Mary’s Hospital Lacor, said the hospital was struggling with the cost of providing affordable services, expensive medical equipment and high taxation, despite limited government grants.
Corti said the foundation had invested more than Shs100 billion over the past 15 years to subsidise patient services by up to 70 per cent, but the support was still insufficient.
Health Minister Chris Baryomunsi acknowledged that private not-for-profit hospitals carry a substantial share of the healthcare burden in northern Uganda and that government support to these facilities remains inadequate.
He said he would raise the issue of tax waivers on medical equipment with government and indicated that the ongoing recruitment of health workers would help address shortages of medical consultants.
Baryomunsi welcomed the Italian-funded programme, particularly its focus on hard-to-reach communities in northern, northeastern and West Nile Uganda.
He said the region’s health challenges had been compounded by the effects of the two-decade insurgency that affected northern Uganda from the late 1980s into the 2000s.
He also said the programme addressed persistent national health challenges, including cancer and other non-communicable diseases, child mortality and maternal deaths.
Nixon Niyonzima, the Head of Research and Training at the Uganda Cancer Institute, said the programme offered an opportunity to revive cancer treatment services that had stalled in some regional centres.
He said some hospitals already had cancer treatment equipment, but it remained unused because of shortages of trained personnel, guidelines and other forms of technical support.
Niyonzima said the project would help address these operational gaps and improve access to cancer services closer to patients’ communities.
Meanwhile, Italy’s Ambassador Riccardo Guariglia, Secretary-General of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, said the project reflected Italy’s approach to development cooperation by supporting solutions designed around the needs and priorities of local communities.