How many of you made a New Year’s resolution?

Are you still keeping to it? If not, you are not alone as 80% of people who make resolutions, give up on them. When a person makes a New Year’s resolution, they are resolving to improve their lives, like giving up a bad habit or changing an unhealthy pattern of behaviour.  But there’s an art to making a resolution that can stand the test of time. See box below “Getting Back on Track” for some ideas.

Tuberculosis (TB): Improve awareness, testing, and treatment.

TB is still one of the world’s top infectious disease killers, and it is an ongoing battle. Despite the strong efforts to control tuberculosis, it still remains a global challenge.

KHC Is tackling TB in the most at risk communities, who mainly live in slum areas that are densely populated and this can lead to high TB effect and transmission. Through the Local Partner Health Services TB project, in partnership with Kamwokya Christian Caring Community (KCCC) and funding from @Infectious Disease Institute, we are reaching many of these people. KHC also continues to monitor patients in the local community, particularly those who are HIV positive as they are very suspectable to getting TB.

It’s easy to forget that TB kills 1.5 million people annually and that most of those deaths are preventable and treatable. KHC results of our TB Initiatives for the first quarter of 2024:

Local Partner Health Services	KHC Community Services
No. of people screened:  1,734 No. presumed to have TB: 325 No. of positive cases: 13	No of people screened: 1,864 No. presumed to have TB: 263 No. of positive cases: 22

 KHC Community Workers Making a Difference.  KHC community workers play a pivotal role in identifying people who may have TB.

Zainah is 47 years old and has two children Miracle aged 1 ½ and Melisa aged 3 years. She is separated from her husband.  Zainah is a market vendor, selling tomatoes and when our team met her, she exhibited TB symptoms such as a cough, weight loss, and intermittent fevers. 

After a screening, Zainah was identified as a presumptive TB case. A sputum sample was collected and sent to KHC for evaluation, which confirmed she had TB. At first because of the stigma, Zainah did not believe the result however with the help of her friend she came to KHC and underwent further TB testing which confirmed she had TB.

During counselling Zainah said she was HIV positive and was receiving antiretroviral therapy (ART) from the local hospital. Her two young children were also HIV positive and receiving ART from the same hospital.

Contact Tracing is a very important part of the TB treatment process, so that close friends and family members can be screened for TB. Miracle was also diagnosed with TB, and her older sister was given preventative treatment for 6 months. Zainah obtained a referral from the hospital so that KHC could provide an integrated TB and HIV care for herself and the children.

We are pleased to say that the family has now recovered from their TB and that Melisa is now able to go to school as her fees are sponsored.

Great Investment – Your Donation Will Be Matched. 

Join Us! From April 8 -12 April, if you donate up to US$50 you will help children with cancer from disadvantaged rural communities to access treatment. And, @GlobalGiving will match your generosity at 50% for the #LittleByLittle campaign. 

Help us spread the word: share with your family and friends to let them know that BIG change can come from little acts of kindness! To donate go to: Help Poor Children with Cancer to Access Treatment – GlobalGiving

Help us to continue to give hope to these young children doing it tough.

 Children’s Belated Party 

 

 

 

A planned Christmas party for the children at the New Hope Children’s had to be moved to early this year.  However, the children still enjoyed the day which was signed off with the celebratory cake.

Dancing for a good cause

 A KHC team participated in the Cancer Sukuma Dance Fitness on 25 February 2024 which was organised by our partners Uganda Cancer Society.  The objective of the event was to raise funds to help those women with breast cancer, who have had a mastectomy. Restoring Smiles #Abreast4Her.

Key facts About Breast Cancer:

• Breast cancer caused 670 000 deaths globally in 2022.
• Roughly half of all breast cancers occur in women with no specific risk factors other than sex and age.
• Breast cancer was the most common cancer in women in 157 countries out of 185 in 2022.
• Breast cancer occurs in every country in the world.
• Approximately 0.5–1% of breast cancers occur in men. (WHO 2022)

Uganda has a breast cancer age-standardized incidence and mortality rate of 21.3/100,000 and 10.3/100,000 respectively. These high mortality rates can be attributed to late-stage diagnosis for women with breast cancer: up to 89% of women in Uganda present with stage III or IV when breast cancer is more difficult to treat, and outcomes poor.

Increasing awareness amongst women of the signs and symptoms of breast cancer and women knowing how to do regular self-checking is very important so that the cancer can be detected early and treatment provided.                   

Good Outcome for Children with Cancer

The African Palliative Care Association of Uganda (APCA),  on 22 and 23 February held a workshop to finalise the review of the Children’s Palliative Care Outcome Scale (C-POS). The overarching aim of C-POS is to develop and validate a person-centred outcome measure for children, young people (CYP) and their families affected by life-limiting & life-threatening conditions (LLLTC).

The group in the workshop reviewed the measure and developed a plan for the integration of this measure into routine care. C-POS will help us to provide best practice in clinical and psychosocial care for children with cancer and their families.

New Hope Children’s Hostel provides an important service to the most vulnerable children in our society, those who have cancer and are from poor rural families.

Overview:   No. of children stayed at the hostel in 2024 – 116                   No. of children cared for since inception (2016) – 874         No. of children passed away since inception – 324                       No. in remission – 214                                                                    No. cured since inception (5yrs cancer free) – 40.

What these figures do not reflect is the human tragedy that cancer brings to the children and their families.  They cannot do it on their own and that is where we all come in, providing support, love, care and hope and pray that these children can have a future.

A Massive Thank You to our Local Supporters……

Hazel & Amara Support Center, is a community-based charitable organization, and provides holistic care and support to children living with chronic illnesses (cancer, sickle cell, diabetes, and HIV/AIDs) and their caregivers. They carried out a festive season giveaway campaign on 6 January for New Hope Children’s Hostel and they donated food items and shared a word of hope for both the children and their caregivers.  KHC is humbled and grateful that our organisation was chosen for their generosity. For those in our care, knowing that there are people in the community who love and care about them provides them with hope.

People Giving Back to the Community 

Seventh Day Adventist Church Youth Group – Bunga is made up of young people aged 18-21 years old. This fellowship group each March select a charity to support and this year the New Hope Children’s hostel was chosen. The time spent with the children and caregivers was rewarding for everyone, sharing and praying, counselling, colouring and playing games. The donation of food and other items was gratefully received. God Bless.  

The hostel also received support from Grace and Terry, Rose Bahati, Ethan and his family, and Jonathan and family. The children love the interaction with our visitors, and it certainly takes their minds off the struggle they are facing.

 We thank all our wonderful supporters for their continued support and love towards the New Hope Children’s Hostel family.

Getting back on track………. Make bite-sized goals If you want to run a half marathon in 2024, or boost your social connections, or start volunteering, that’s great. But, if you haven’t mapped out how you will get there, it’s less likely you can achieve those goals. You need to make sure resolutions are broken down into bite-sized, approachable, daily, or weekly actions. Where will you do it?  How will you do it?  How will you get there?  Find out what is standing in your way If you find something disincentivising you from sticking to your goal, find a new route, such as rewarding yourself during or after completing the goal. Coupling something you love with your habit, such as listening to your favourite music while you do your strength workout or watching your favourite show after you put ney into savings.  Adopt a growth mindset A growth mindset, rather than a fixed mindset, is ever-changing. It’s when we think about situations as points on a larger map and challenges as learning experiences over failures. This mindset can serve us when applied toward our goals. The best goals stretch us, which means some missteps and goal failures are likely It’s important to have a growth mindset about goal pursuit, which means recognizing that missteps are part of the journey, and they can help us learn and grow and succeed with greater likelihood in the future by rethinking our path. We are often hard on ourselves and if we have a misstep, we may give up. Also, goals can be set anytime of the year to start working on a new habit. Good luck.