Infants' Health Foundation
..................Saving Lives. Improving Health. Transforming Communities
HISTORY OF INFANTS' HEALTH FOUNDATION
Infants' Health Foundation was founded by Kyomuhendo Sylivia. Sylivia grew up from a remote hardest to reach village in Namayingo district in Uganda where there was no health facility and access to a good road. Accessing health facilities was very hard that they had to always walk for at least 20 kilometers, taking approximately 4 hours to access the nearby health facility. Sylivia lost her beloved sister and the newborn niece due to child birth complications. Sarah safely delivered at home, but bled heavily afterwards and eventually died. Worst of it all, her niece they were left with was born with spina bifida and her family members and neighbors truly believed it was witchcraft and she was taken to a shrine to the witchdoctor to be cleansed of the demons they believed were attacking her, unfortunately Malaika also died.
With this haunting experience, Sylivia vowed to change health situations in her community because she didn't want what happened to her sister and niece to happen to anyone else. Sylivia believes that her sister would probably still be alive if the sister had a healthy pregnancy and if her family and community was sensitized about maternal child health and birth defects. She realized that inaccessible health facilities is not only a problem in her community but in Uganda at large where many people and more so the low income women and children living in remote hardest to reach areas have to walk many miles at a greater cost for health care services which have led to needless preventable mother morbidity, infant mortality and birth defects among those who survive. After her government sponsored degree at Kyambogo University in 2017, with her intrinsic passion and commitment, motivated by her sad experience and frustration about inaccessible health facilities, she started fundraisings from family members, friends, community members and other well-wishers. With the raised funds, together with her team, they launched Infants' Health Foundation in March 2018.
With this haunting experience, Sylivia vowed to change health situations in her community because she didn't want what happened to her sister and niece to happen to anyone else. Sylivia believes that her sister would probably still be alive if the sister had a healthy pregnancy and if her family and community was sensitized about maternal child health and birth defects. She realized that inaccessible health facilities is not only a problem in her community but in Uganda at large where many people and more so the low income women and children living in remote hardest to reach areas have to walk many miles at a greater cost for health care services which have led to needless preventable mother morbidity, infant mortality and birth defects among those who survive. After her government sponsored degree at Kyambogo University in 2017, with her intrinsic passion and commitment, motivated by her sad experience and frustration about inaccessible health facilities, she started fundraisings from family members, friends, community members and other well-wishers. With the raised funds, together with her team, they launched Infants' Health Foundation in March 2018.