CHASE Africa supports local partner organisations in East Africa that work tirelessly to promote human rights through sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR).
These partners have joined together to form the CHASE Africa Partner Network to work together on disseminating information and best practice and ultimately strengthen their voice and their work.
CHASE Africa partners with RICE-West Nile on two projects. One project is with West Nile fishing communities, the other is with host and refugee communities around the Bidibidi refugee settlement.
A mobile Health driver in Poropor, Bidibidi talks to the community
Empowering Alex and his family to make the choice on family planning
Alex’s story
Alex, a 44-year-old South Sudanese father of six, resides in Zone 1 of the Bidibidi Refugee Settlement in Uganda with his family. The settlement in Yumbe district, hosts over 190,000 refugees who, like Alex, have fled the civil war in South Sudan. It is an under-serviced, rural area that has limited healthcare services and a very low uptake of family planning.
After losing one of their children, Alex and his wife Aisha (30) live with their five surviving children. Both Alex and Aisha face significant health challenges, Aisha has epilepsy, and Alex sustained a head injury from a violent attack, resulting in partial paralysis of his right limbs and frequent balance issues.
They face a constant struggle to meet basic needs for their family given that neither Alex or Aisha can carry out productive activities due to their health conditions. "When we run out of money and food, I have had to borrow from my neighbour or our pastor and I know they are now tired of me borrowing from them," says Alex.
Alex and Aisha’s 14-year-old daughter, is in Primary 4 and has often missed school to support her parents and siblings. She has shouldered much of the household's responsibilities including fetching medicine for her parents and ensuring her family's day-to-day survival, all at the expense of her own education.
The turning point for the family came when a Community Health Worker, employed by CHASE Africa’s implementing partner, RICE-West Nile, visited their community.
Through meeting with the Community Health Worker, Alex and Aisha learned about family planning, its benefits and how it could help them support their existing family, leading the couple to adopt a three-year family planning method.
"I did not know how to avoid making my wife pregnant because we knew nothing about family planning. Now we can look after the children we already have, as we don’t have the strength to raise more," says Alex.
In 2023, CHASE Africa’s implementing partners provided over 250,000 health services and provided advice and support to people too fragile to leave home or those living in remote areas with limited access to health services. These services were provided through home visits as well as Backpack Nurses and outreach clinics.
Overall, we’re proud to have delivered over one million healthcare services, provided over 480,000 family planning services and distributed millions of free condoms over the last 10 years in Kenya and Uganda.
Mobile health clinic in Bidibidi settlement, Uganda