Maternal care
Rapha has greatly reduced thousands of pre- and post-natal deaths of pregnant mothers who previously had no access to healthcare at all.
Our Ministries — Rapha Medical Center
One room in 2011. Now the island’s only major health centre.
Rapha is the only major Health Care Center III on Bussi Island. It has greatly reduced pre- and post-natal deaths of pregnant mothers who had no access to healthcare, and offers free HIV/AIDS medication to over 2,400 patients across the nearby islands.
2011operating since2,400+on free HIV/AIDS medicationHC IIIthe island’s only major centre1room, at the start
The story
It started as a very small remote clinic in one room.
Rapha Medical Center started operating in 2011. Before that, it ran as a single-room remote clinic. Today it is the only major Health Care Center III on Bussi Island.
On an island, distance is the illness. A complication in labour, a missed dose of antiretrovirals, an infection that needed treating on Tuesday — each becomes dangerous when the nearest alternative is across open water.
The work
What Rapha carries.
HIV/AIDS programme
Free HIV/AIDS medication reaches over 2,400 patients spread across the nearby islands — the kind of treatment that only works if it never stops.
Island outreach
Serving Bussi Island and the communities scattered around it, where the alternative to Rapha is a crossing by boat.
Why it matters
A Health Centre III is the difference between a journey and a ward.
In Uganda’s health system a Health Centre III serves a sub-county with outpatient care, a maternity ward and a laboratory. On Bussi Island, Rapha is the only major one — so it is where a mother in labour goes, and where 2,400 people collect medication they cannot go without.
Arriving at Rapha
A door that is open when the boat gets in.
Reception, a consulting room, a treatment room, a dispensary and a ward — on an island where the alternative is a crossing.
How to help
What a gift funds here.
Ask the centre what each of these costs today.
A safe delivery
Cover one mother’s delivery and her post-natal care, on an island where that used to mean a boat ride.
A month of medication
Keep one patient on uninterrupted HIV/AIDS treatment — the kind that only works if it never stops.
An island outreach day
Fund the boat, the team and the supplies for a day’s outreach clinic.
In pictures
See the full gallery
Life here.
The centre, seen from the yard
Reception, and the health information boards
On the ward
A consultation room
A treatment room and the supplies cupboard
The dispensary and immunisation room
The rehabilitation room
The administration office
Stand with us
Keep the island’s only health centre open.
Medication, deliveries and outreach days — funded gift by gift.