The Bwindi Community Hospital (formerly the Bwindi Community Health Centre) is located on the edge of the Bwindi Impenetrable Forest in south-west Uganda. It provides health care to some of the poorest people in the world, including the Batwa Pygmies who were displaced from the Bwindi Impenetrable Forest after it became a National Park to protect Mountain Gorillas. In this area malnutrition, malaria, HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis and diarrhoea are the biggest killers.
Bwindi Community Health Centre is a Church of Uganda Health Centre located in the village of Buhoma close to the northern entrance of Bwindi Impenetrable National Park, home of half of the world’s Mountain Gorillas. It is run by a Management Committee consisting of staff at the Health Centre and local people. The Health Centre was started by US Missionaries Scott and Carol Kellermann in 2003. They came to Uganda with a mission to the Batwa Pygmies who had been evicted from Bwindi Impenetrable Forest after it was gazetted as a National Park in 1991. They lived in Kanungu town (around 1 ½ hours away) and did weekly outreach clinics under a tree. They found huge need in the Bwindi area, particularly among the Batwa. A survey performed soon after their arrival found that in excess of 50% of children born to landless Batwa died before their fifth birthday.
BCHC provides different levels of health care to different patients. People from the nearby parishes use the Health Centre for everything: outpatients for all health problems, delivery of babies, vaccinations, treatment of TB and when they become seriously ill and need admission to the wards. Sometimes very sick people are carried for miles on a stretcher by villagers.
People from further away use the Health Centre for more complex problems, and will often go to their local Government Health Centre first. Some of the local Government Health Centres struggle to get adequate supplies of drugs, and others have staff that battle with difficult working conditions and low morale. BCHC has a reputation for high quality, and sometimes people travel for many days by foot to reach the Health Centre. The x-ray and ultrasound machines are the only ones that are functioning for many hours drive in every direction.
Quick Information about Bwindi Hospital
Bwindi Community Hospital is a community based organisation operating in Buhoma, a village at the entrance to Bwindi Impenetrable Rainforest.
It provides health care to some of the poorest people in the world, including the Batwa Pygmies who were displaced from the Bwindi Impenetrable Forest after it became a National Park to protect Mountain Gorillas. In this area malnutrition, malaria, HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis and diarrhoea are the biggest killers.
Vision: A healthy and productive community free from preventable disease and with excellent health services accessible to all.
Mission: Giving holistic health care and life in all its fullness to the staff, patients, clients and visitors in the hospital and community
Bwindi Community Hospital (originally Bwindi Community Health Centre, BCHC) was founded by missionaries Scott and Carol Kellermann in 2003 and has since continued to grow in an attempt to meet the health needs of the community. It has expanded from a mobile outreach clinic under a tree to a Hospital delivering quality services in a range of specialties from Obstetrics to Malaria prevention, HIV treatment to Dental care, Malnutrition treatment to Family planning and X-rays to PMTCT.
The Hospital aims to serve the most under-privileged population in the area. The Batwa Pygmies have lived in poverty in scattered settlements since they were evicted from the Bwindi Impenetrable National Park, and they have particular health needs. The hospital also serves a variable number of tourists who come to Uganda for Gorilla tracking and the people who provide the infrastructure for the tourist industry.