Our Plan

We have built Health and Conservation centre just within the border of Kibale National Park, Uganda - within a short walking distance to the village (2 minutes). The center has a full time nurse and a medical doctor advisor. It provides the communities surrounding the park with reliable health care that is close at hand, outreach education to prevent diseases, and wonderful training opportunities for students of McGill University.

The Kibale Health and Conservation Clinic project has two overarching goals: 1) to provide health care to the local community and 2) to provide the community with tangible benefits coming from the park in an effort to improve people-parks relations.  The health component now involves providing basic treatment to approximately 6000 people who live within bike riding distance of the Health Centre, an education program targeting the local schools, hosting vaccinations and promoting reproductive health for women in the local community.  Recently, our nurses received upgraded training to be able to council and treat HIV/AIDS patients.

The project is in two phases:

Phase I: Fundraising
We have completed (or nearly so) this phase which involved fundraising to build the center, hire the nurse, and provide supplies. The student of the Canadian Field Studies in Africa were wonderful in this phase of the project organizing fundraising events and helping with ideas. Students from the McGill School of Environment (MSE) helped by developing a plan for long term sustainability of the centre.

Phase II: Long term sustainability
The objective of Phase II is to establish a system for the long term sustainability of the health centre. This will involve the participation of students in the Canadian Field Studies in Africa, who visit Kibale each January and February. Donors are able to give directly to McGill University, as well as donating at fundraising events. 100% of the funds donated will go to the Kibale health centre directly. Medical clinics, Universities, and companies are able to donate new or second hand equipment such as stethoscopes and microscopes (to identify malaria), directly to the clinic through our project coordinators. We are also seeking funds for bursaries to allow McGill (or students from other Universities) to be involved in research or outreach education related to the Health Centre's activities. (“Contact Us”).