About us
The African Community Centre for Social Sustainability (ACCESS) is a community-based organisation in the rural district of Uganda called Nakaseke. It was founded on the premise that everyone has a right to a healthy life. Our mission is to work with vulnerable people in resource-limited settings through provision of medical care, education and economic empowerment to create long lasting change that is owned by the entire community.
Each year, we focus on strengthening the activities of ACCESS in the areas of support for orphans and other vulnerable children (OVCs), nursing and midwifery education, medical care, family planning, innovative research and global health as well as infrastructure and human resource development.
With additional support from our partners, we have been able to graduate 24 preschool children and maintained the number of preschool children at 62. We have provided scholastic materials for 420 OVCs in primary and secondary schools. We held our first graduation for the nurses and midwives in our school in 2018; 98% passed their national exam with excellence, and most of them are employed. The school has over 254 students.
Our medical care services have greatly improved. In 2018, we treated over 3,196 patients and provided family planning services to 29,614 clients including 8,884 youths aged 15-24 years in and out of school. The number of clients has thus more than quadrupled from 7000 in 2017. ACCESS is now the leading provider of FP services in the Nakaseke district and provides support for 19 other health centers in the district.
Working with international partners, ACCESS has been able to set up income generating projects, and established three patient-centered care clinics for non-Communicable diseases (NCD) serving over 400 patients. Our model has been presented to Uganda Ministry of Health and has been adopted by several partners in the NCD field in Uganda. We have established a pocket doctor booklet that has simple and easy to understand messages about NCDs in the community. Over 2,000 copies have been distributed.
We have partnered with several stakeholders in improving the health and wealth of women. So far 170 families have been supported with income generating projects and micro grants that have alleviated poverty.
We have been able to maintain our connection with the community through training and empowering 122 community health workers who provide support to all our projects. We have welcomed new partners and have worked on new areas of need based on the research findings with our partners. Our work has been recognized through International and local awards.
ACCESS REPORTS