There is a tremendous need for reliable and applicable community health information in Uganda and South Sudan. Access to formal education is severely limited and illiteracy rates are extremely high. Therefore, what most Westerners would consider common knowledge about disease prevention, germ theory, and basic hygiene principles is widely unknown in the places we serve.
In both Uganda and South Sudan, we have Favor clinics that provide basic medical care to our staff and their families, and to our former street youth who are in residence. In Uganda, where 50% or more of the population lives in extreme poverty, our clinic just opened to the public providing low-cost medical assistance to the community.
Beyond Gulu, Uganda and Juba, South Sudan, community health education is a vital and integral part of the Rural Education and Empowerment Program (REEP). During the two-month Portable Bible Schools, daily classes are taught on recognizing certain disease symptoms, preventing illnesses, and treating common disorders. Common knowledge like boiling water, washing hands and general cleanliness is taught as disease prevention.
Mobile medical clinics are a practical extension of Favor Clinics where we go to rural areas where there is little or no medical services. Of course each patient is prayed for, given the Gospel message, and treated for their diseases. Mobile medical clinics often open the way for further penetration of the Gospel into remote areas.
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