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TASO Mbale
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Background
TASO Mbale was established in March 1990, in a small room that was part of the TB Ward of Mbale Regional Hospital.
Mrs. Mary Mwiri and Dr. Florence Ebanyati, both of whom had come face-to-face with HIV/AIDS at family level and at
work place spear headed the founding of this center. Mrs. Mwiri, who was later to become the first center manager
of TASO Mbale mobilized a few other volunteers including Mr. Watuwa Stephen Mr. Namunga Davies and Mr. Magawa John,
got support from TASO Headquarters to start the center. From that time up to 1993, counseling of people with HIV/AIDS was done under a mango tree because there was no office room. In 1993 the first TASO Mbale DANIDA-funded building was put up on Pallisa Road within Mbale Regional Hospital premises. When office space continued to be a challenge due to increasing number of clients and staff, the new storied building was constructed next to the old one and commissioned in Decembner 2004.
Like all the other TASO centers, TASO Mbale provides two kinds of programme services: Direct and Indirect. Direct services include; counseling, medical care, material support, and child support. Indirect services include; Support supervision to CBOs, Advocacy and networking on HIV/AIDS issues, and Mobilization and training of community volunteers for capacity building and collaboration.
TASO Mbale now serves the districts of Mbale, Sironko, Manafwa, Pallisa, and Kapchorwa. The center runs two general clinics (Tuesdays and Thursdays) and one ART clinic (Mondays) per week. There are also seven outreach clinics per month at the sites of Bududa, Bukedea, Magale, Budadiri, Muyembe Buseta, and Iki-Iki. The outreach clinics are conducted every Wednesdays and Fridays.
TASO Mbale has seven outreach clinics, these include: Bududa, Bukedea, Kumi, Budadiri, Muyembe Buseta, and Iki-Iki. All the outreaches are run within the health units' premises. To date, TASO Mbale has intervened in twelve communities in which it has trained volunteers to support TASO in extending its services nearer to the people. The communities are Buwagogo, Bumbobi, Bungwanyi, Malera, Bukedea, Bukigai, Iki-iki, Buseta, Bulambuli, Bumalimba, Bunefule, and Bunambale.
By the end of 2006, the center had registered a cumulative number of 19,123 clients. On average, the center receives 250 new clients per month, conducts 1,700 counseling sessions and 3,500 medical sessions. The center had given ARVs to a total of 1,347 adult clients and 71 child clients by the end of December 2006. Some 3,997 clients had been screened for ART at that same time.
Staffing
The current staffing levels in TASO Mbale is shown in the table below| Category of Staff | Total Employed |
|---|---|
| Counsellors | 20 |
| Community Trainers | 02 |
| Medical Officers | 04 |
| Clinical Officers | 03 |
| Pharmacy Technicians | 02 |
| Laboratory Technicians | 02 |
| Nurses | 08 |
| Operations staff | 21 |
| Projects | 02 |
| Field Officers | 12 |
| Volunteers | 12 |
| Part-timers | 03 |
| Casual labourers | 10 |
| Day center | 01 |
| Total | 103 |
Collaboration with other agencies
There has been effective networking with government bodies and other sister organizations. Our networking partners include: - AIDS Information Centre (AIC), Uganda Women Concern Ministry (UWCM), CURE (Crippled Children's Rehabilitation Effort), District Offices, ACET (AIDS Care Education and Training), CCF, CCP, Mbale Regional Hospital, Compassion International, Farm Africa, HPI, FADEPU and Learning Institutions.TASO Mbale runs a radio program on Open Gate Radio every Sunday from 8:00pm to 9:00pm and the topics discussed are HIV/AIDS related.
Life Project
This is a component that addresses the social/economic impact on clients' families. Its activities include:Challenges
Some of the challenges faced include; the increasing number of clients that is threatening to affect the quality of services delivered, inadequate space at outreach clinics that compromises confidentiality, inadequate motivation for the trained community volunteers, high demand for nutritional support, IGA, educational support, and the stress full nature of the work.Contact:
Mr. Mutebi Kimera Bogere, Manager TASO Mbale
P.o Box 2250, Mbale
Tel: +256-45-33507
Mob: +256-772-618071
e-mail: TASO Mbale Email
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