PICTURE STORY: WHO Takes the COVID-19 Message to Rwenshama Landing site, one of Uganda’s Hard-to-Reach Areas

At about 4:00 PM, a team from the field support team of the World Health Organization (WHO) drives through a flooded road to Rwemanja landing site. There is a noticeable rise in water levels.

Nearby, a restaurant owner, Ms Addy Kyomukunda prepares food on a makeshift raised wooden platform in a shack that used to be her restaurant, customers come in for a quick meal of fish stew. Undeterred by the knee-high water levels, they hurriedly eat their meals. In an interaction with the WHO team, she says; “this is my only source of income, it’s the only thing I know how to do ever since I was a young girl, if I could, I would find other ways to make money.”

Worryingly, more customers wade through the water as they enter Addy’s restaurant, undeterred by the water and the stale stench of stagnant water and rotting fish.

The team meets Fahad Barigira (in blue fabric), a 24-year-old man on the shores of Lake Edward. He is getting ready for his next fishing shift which starts at 5:00 pm and ends at 7:00 am the next day. Fahad is married with one child and has spent three years as a fisherman on the lake. He is part of a three-man fishing crew which includes his brother and a friend.

“Every day for the last three months, the water attacks homes, when it rains, at night, and even when the tide rises. I don’t feel safe because it is not healthy when the floods come,” says Fahad.

The heavy rains and a very low water table means that several latrines in the community have since collapsed. In addition, the households cannot dig new latrines so they requested support in the form of eco-san latrines to help in the meantime. The health assistant based at the health centre concurs with this request.

The heavy rains and a very low water table mean that several latrines in the community have since collapsed. In addition, the households cannot dig new latrines so they requested support in the form of eco-san latrines to help in the meantime. The health assistant based at the health centre concurs with this request.

Following the field visit, the WHO team has since sensitized 910 members of the community together with the leaders on the underlying health risks and concerns and COVID-19. Community feedback has been invaluable in these activities. As a result, the local leaders agreed to form three committees to cater for; health issues, enforcement of guidelines and general community health sensitisation in order to address the health concerns in the village.
The WHO team also donated an assortment of Infection Prevention and Control materials.