Uganda

•  About the Hospital

  CURE Children’s Hospital of Uganda (CURE Uganda) is a specialty teaching hospital that treats the neurosurgical needs of children, with an emphasis on hydrocephalus, neural tube defects, spina bifida, epilepsy and brain tumors. Located in Mbale, Uganda, it is Africa’s leading hospital for the treatment of these conditions.

  Since it opened in 2000, more than 8,900 surgeries have been performed at the CURE Uganda hospital. This life-saving care is available nowhere else in Uganda and is available to all, regardless of ability to pay.

  Children suffering from physical disabilities like hydrocephalus in Uganda have little hope for a productive future. If they don’t die, they will endure a lifetime of physical and mental problems as well as social isolation. Their families also often encounter similar rejection from their relatives and friends.

  CURE Uganda is recognized as a global leader in the treatment of hydrocephalus. It developed and implemented a groundbreaking minimally invasive surgical procedure (endoscopic third ventriculostomy and choroid plexus cauterization - ETV/CPC) that serves as a superior alternative to the more traditional method of inserting a shunt inside the head.

  The hospital’s prestigious CURE Hydrocephalus Surgeon Training Program attracts surgeons from all over the world, including countries like Bangladesh, the U.S. and Ghana. These surgeons spend three months at the hospital to learn the advanced surgery performed there and are then equipped to perform this surgery in their home country.

  CURE Uganda has a holistic approach to its patient care, with an equal emphasis on physical and spiritual healing. The hospital has a highly trained team of counselors who are available to talk and pray with patients and their families.

  To extend its reach beyond its central location, the hospital regularly sends out mobile clinics to remote areas of Uganda for follow-up care and to identify additional children for treatment.

•  How can you pray for CURE Uganda?

  1. Pray for the mothers of the patients as they return home. Although their child is cured, many mothers still do not have the support of the child’s father or their families.
  2. Pray for the staff members as they reach out to the hospital patients while they also deal with their own daily personal needs.
  3. Pray for the continued dependability of the hospital’s medical equipment, especially the CT scan machine. This equipment is costly to repair and essential to enabling the hospital to provide advanced care.
  4. Pray for the development of more in-country sources of revenue so that the hospital can increase its capacity, expand mobile clinic services and raise its visibility throughout Uganda.
  5. Pray for the children in need of care who have not yet been reached by the hospital.

•  About the Country

  Uganda

  

  Uganda is a landlocked country in East Africa. It is bordered on the east by Kenya, on the north by Sudan, on the west by the Democratic Republic of the Congo, on the southwest by Rwanda, and on the south by Tanzania. The southern part of the country includes a substantial portion of Lake Victoria, which is also bordered by Kenya and Tanzania.

  Mbale, where CURE’s hospital is located, is a town in the eastern region of Uganda, at the foot of Mount Elgon. It is one of the nation's largest urban areas and the commercial center for a coffee-producing agricultural region.

  Country Facts

  Population: 34,612,250 (2011)

  Climate: Tropical

  Nationality: Ugandan

  Language: Luganda, English

  Capital: Kampala

  Percent population under age of 15: 50%

  Years of life expectancy at birth: 49

  Infant mortality (per 1000 live births): 63

  Child mortality (death before age 5): 134

  Per capital health expenditure: $143

  Sources: CIA World Factbook and World Health Organization

•  About Hydrocephalus

  Hydrocephalus is caused by an over-accumulation of cerebrospinal fluid (CSF).Commonly referred to as “water on the brain,” this condition is caused by a blockage of the brain’s ventricles, leading to a disruption in the outflow of CSF. If left untreated, this condition can lead to significant physical and developmental problems and, more than half of the time, death.

  Hydrocephalus is an enormous problem among infants in the developing world. Due to high birth rates, the lack of quality health care and tremendous poverty leading to issues such as malnutrition, the incidence of neonatal infection is higher in poor countries, which in turn leads to higher rates of hydrocephalus. In Uganda alone, it is estimated over 4,000 new cases of hydrocephalus occur each year.

  Traditionally, children suffering from hydrocephalus are treated using a shunt system to drain the accumulated fluid off the brain and out of the body. The shunt procedure has been the standard of care for over five decades; however, even in a developed world setting, it is estimated the shunt will need to be revised on average 3-5 times before the patient reaches the age of 18 years. Combined with their propensity for infection, shunts are not the best option for children living in the developing world.

  CURE Children’s Hospital of Uganda (CURE Uganda) utilizes an endoscopic shunt-less procedure for the treatment of this condition. Developed by the hospital’s founding medical director, Dr. Benjamin Warf, this procedure combines endoscopic third ventriculostomy (ETV) with a choroid plexus cauterization (CPC), to provide a safer, more sustainable solution than the use of a shunt.

  More than 650 surgical procedures are performed annually to treat hydrocephalus at CURE Uganda.

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