Uganda, Africa
Supporting midwifery education with 3 programs
Nurse midwife Marion Toepke did research focused on maternal health in the remote rural villages around Soroti. Then, rather than focusing on publishing a paper, she found countless ways to use her data to help the communities she had studied. Her Village Women Conferences attracted hundreds who came for health messages and support. While Marion isn't currently planning a new set of conferences, the program that she established to support the families of mothers who died continues.
Eema Education Fund
The Education Fund provides scholarships to individuals seeking to advance their education, mostly in the healing arts and sciences. It comprehensively supports adult learners who would not otherwise be able to afford their education.
IMA works in the town of Soroti, Uganda in partnership with the local staff and board of directors of a CBO, a Community Based Organization. A CBO is a non-profit organization that works within a local community to improve the well-being of its residents. The organization is called the Eema Care Center. It administers three different education and outreach programs.
The first group of 34 students is composed of people who were on staff at Teso Safe Motherhood. For this reason, the individuals are well known to IMA to be kind, compassionate and talented care providers. Seven are in medical school, and ten are in advanced degree programs, like nursing. Two are pursuing MBAs, and the others are studying business, accounting, information and records management, laboratory science, and social sciences like counseling. Their scholarships are comprehensive – Eema provides housing, food, books, laptops, healthcare, childcare – everything they need to succeed. We are confident these talented and deserving adult learners will become tremendous doctors, advanced practice nurses, laboratory technologists, counselors and administrators.
Most of the students began school in August of 2024. We conduct site visits once or twice each year to ensure everyone is doing well in school, and we provide support when obstacles appear. It’s a little too early to assess things like graduation rates, but everyone’s grades and progress through their programs demonstrate the group's commitment to success.
Updates From The Students
“I’m enjoying classes. I have
a feeling, after this course,
if all goes well, I will do a bit
of teaching. That is what I’ve discovered. I’ve realized I’ve gotten some skills. I’m building my confidence. There is a teaching college at Mulago, a nine-month course I’d like to do at the end of this program I’m in. I’d like to teach at Soroti University, I want to be at home and serve my home people.”
Aiso Salome
Bachelors of Medical Laboratory Science
Student at Clarke University
"Currently, I am placed at Mulago Hospital (the national referral hospital). I have developed a strong interest in the ICU (intensive care unit), caring for unconscious patients. I’d like to continue for a Master’s, I’d like to specialize in critical care. We don’t have that in Soroti. They have a room they call the ICU but there is no equipment or trained nurses there.”
Akiteng Esther
Nursing Student at Aga Khan University
“I feel it would be good for us
if we could cooperate with a medical school. At Teso Safe Motherhood we gave quality services, we could train people with a better culture and ethic to be incorporated into this country. Comparing hospitals where I’ve worked to Teso Safe Motherhood, it makes me really appreciate, really Iove the quality of work we did at Teso Safe Motherhood. We could do a good service by training others to give that quality service.”
Agunyo Phoebe
MD Student at Kampala International University
The Maternal Mortality Research Project
With Nurse Midwife, Marion Toepke
Nurse midwife Marion Toepke conducted research in the rural villages surrounding Soroti. Marion, who also holds a Masters Degree in Anthropology, began volunteering with IMA in Bamiyan, Afghanistan in 2006. In Uganda, she conducted a formal research project on causes of maternal death in the dozens of remote villages located in the Teso region around Soroti. Based on her research results, Marion has produced educational conferences and informational materials for the local people. She could have used her time and talent to write and publish a research paper. Instead, she used what she had learned to help the communities she studied. Her Village Women Conferences attract hundreds who come for health messages and support. Marion produced booklets for the folks in their local languages. The booklets, translated into three languages, contain practical guidelines for safer pregnancy with site-specific information on community resources.
Eema Medical Centre
A Collaboration With Dr. Martin Ouna, OB/GYN
Eema Health Centre is currently under construction, scheduled to open in early April.
Dr. Martin Ouna, OB/GYN served as the medical director at Teso Safe Motherhood for over ten years. He will be the medical director of a facility where a for-profit wing will help generate funding for services for low-income members of the community. Services that will be provided on opening will be antenatal (prenatal) clinic, a laboratory and pharmacy, and labor and delivery.
This clinic will provide a unique synergy. Students pursuing medical studies in Uganda are required to fulfill clinical requirements. Not all schools provide clinical placements, and instead send students into their communities to find opportunities for themselves. This is a challenge and can impede finishing school on time. The Eema Medical Centre will provide an opportunity for Eema scholarship students to work clinically when they need to. With IMA’s support, Dr. Ouna will work to establish a professional clinical environment that is kind, compassionate and respectful of human dignity. By doing clinical rotations at Eema Medical Centre, Eema scholarship students (and others) will benefit from learning from an obstetrician who we know is not only an excellent doctor, but also a gifted teacher.
Patients will certainly benefit as well. This new clinic has an operating room (operating theatre) where mothers who need them will be able to have safe Cesarean births. Families who can pay for services will be able to access Eema Medical Centre services, something Teso Safe Motherhood was unable to offer. These fees, along with other revenue streams built into the clinic, will provide some of the funding necessary to provide services to the families who cannot pay for services.