Mildmay celebrates 10 years of transforming lives in Uganda

A pioneering Aids programme in Uganda, set up by the UK-based Christian Aids
charity, Mildmay, is celebrating 10 years of serving those in need.

Created at the invitation of the Ugandan government in response to escalating cases of HIV and Aids, the Mildmay Centre in Kampala has worked tirelessly in its mission to transform the hopes and lives of people facing the challenge of this disease. The centre has made this a reality through the provision of holistic care, training and service development.

Since 1998, the team has seen more than 430,000 attendances and cared for over 34,000 men, women and children through its outpatient clinic services, at its Kampala base as well as more recently at community sites and satellite
clinics set up to increase access in rural areas.

Medical staff have also played a vital role in scaling up access to antiretroviral drugs, with just under 7,000 patients receiving them. As part of a linked HIV counselling and
testing service, over 60,000 Ugandans (28 per cent children) have been assisted in
knowing their HIV status. Today, Mildmay Uganda's clinics have an active caseload of almost 15,000 men, women and children with complex, ongoing and distressing conditions, who are referred for specialist care from Ministry of Health facilities.

The President of Uganda, Yoweri Museveni, will be marking the 10th Anniversary with a special visit on 8 October, during which he will be invited to comment, make presentations to long-serving staff and unveil the foundation stone for the centre's new laboratory.

The centre is staffed almost exclusively by local Ugandan people and is testament to Mildmay's policy of building in-country capacity as an effective response to the Aids crisis. Mildmay paid tribute to the Ugandan President's "tireless support", and the recognition of the Ugandan Ministry of Health and Aids Commission, which has involved Mildmay's technical staff in national Aids policy.

Through partnership with governments and agencies in other countries of Africa, Mildmay has also impacted on the wider region of Africa, with highly successful HIV and Aids programmes in Kenya, Tanzania, Rwanda and Zimbabwe.

Aligned with Mildmay's philosophy of integrating care with education, an international study centre on the Mildmay Uganda site attracts more than 1,000 health professionals from across the HIV and Aids spectrum each year. Since 1998 it has trained just under 10,000 people, the majority being Ugandans.

Mildmay welcomed a new chief executive, Fi McLachlan, who joined the charity on 1 October.

She said, "I am committed to seeing Christian organisations work well and make a difference. Mildmay has a long tradition of serving those in need and I believe as
Christians we have a personal duty to do this.

"I am excited by the challenges ahead and will continue to work in partnership with other services, so as to address changing needs and ensure relevance for the future."

The sense of duty is echoed by Mildmay's chairman of the board of trustees, The Very Rev John Richardson, who says: "Mildmay's work is founded on genuine prayer, Christian commitment and action, and an understanding of the Christ who brings wholeness and meets people at their point of need in their broken world."

Mildmay Uganda is now looking to expand as a regionalised model. Three more satellite clinics are expected to be operational by 2011 and the number of people accessing antiretrovirals is anticipated to exceed 10,000.

"The future demand shows no signs of abating, with increasing evidence of chronic illness and HIV-related brain impairment amongst patients. The expertise gained by Mildmay UK at the forefront of HIV and Aids rehabilitation will mean that the charity is in a unique position to develop appropriate responses.