Introduction:

Savannah Sunrise (SAS) Foundation (U) is a Non-Governmental Organization that is registered in Uganda since 2004, its mission and vision is to eradicate Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV). It is also the arm through which SAS projects gives back into the community through community out-reach programs and provision of quality and subsidized medical care. The Early Intervention Clinic (EIC) offers quality and affordable medical services to the community and also serves as a research centre for HIV/AIDS.

Administration Department:

The Early Intervention Clinic (EIC) has ten employees including three new staff who joined in 2006.  Dr. Bridget Mugisa-Muyanja – Medical Officer, Ms. Nabawanuka Betty – Nurse, Ms. Kantengwa Agnes – Receptionist/Cashier, and Mr. Kamulosi Peter – Support staff (Maintenance).

The nurses, counselors and receptionist attended training seminars and workshops as part of the staff developments plans for SAS Foundation (U) Limited.

SAS Foundation (U) Limited received donations of $29,965.00 through SAS Foundation USA.  These funds where utilized to run the different activities of SAS Foundation (U) Limited in 2006.  We also received a donation of a dental chair from a group of Pediatric medical consultants from Houston, Texas. 

In August 2006, Mr. Leonard Francis Rwego, the Project Coordinator and Rev. Obed Rubaiza, Head of Mentorship had a trip to the United States of America to fundraise for the organization. The trip was successful and about $45,000.00 was raised, including cash and pledges.  A database of partners in the US of about 300 people has been compiled from the trip.

SAS Foundation (U) Limited intends to set up a Monitoring and Evaluation (M&E) office whose purpose will be to develop a system to examine the Mentorship program and find out if it is working according to plan, and access the impact of the Mentorship Program in the community.  The office will be charged with writing grant proposals for funding.

Medical Department:

The Early Intervention Clinic medical team for the year 2006 comprised of one Medical Officer, one nurse, one lab technician and two counsollers.  In the year 2006 1588 clients where attended at the Early Intervention Clinic run by SAS Foundation.

Our fully equipped laboratory started its operations in April 2006, and facilitated the work of the medical team since about half of the clients seen in the year 2006, did lab tests. The total cash lab sales for the 2006 where 2,706,000= and the credit lab sales where 3,778,000= gives total lab sales of 6,4084,000=. The annual 2007 budget for the Medical department is 20,000,000= (Ten Million Uganda Shillings) - $11,917.06.

Mentorship Department:

In the 2006, the impact of the mentorship program spread to 16 schools through the deployment of 20 mentors.  86,400 primary school children were sensitized and we had contact with over 700 primary school teachers.

The mentorship program has not only worked in schools but has also served to market the services provided by the Early Intervention Clinic.

The Winner’s Society has been put up in place as a mechanism in which children are able to participate in mentorship activities as well as bridging it to the community where they are from. The 2007 annual budget for the Mentorship Program department is 95,860,000= ($56,388.24)

Achievements:

• Received donations of $29,965.00

§  Raised $45,000.00 from the fundraiser held in United States of America.

§  Collected cash sales of 18,345,159=, credit sales of 11,149,325, lab sales of 7,206,000= lab rental of 3,500,000= totaling to 40,200,484=. The net sales collected by the foundation were 32,994,484= excluding lab sales of 7,206,000= that are remitted to SAS Clinic.

§  Purchase of a 30kva from Balton Uganda Limited

§  Received certification from Non-Governmental Organization Board for 36 months.

§  Received 1,588 patient visits a seven fold increase compared to the 2005 where we had 223 patient visits.

§  Set up a fully equipped laboratory that started operating in April 2006.

§  Increased impact of the Mentorship Program in schools.

§  Launching of the ‘Winner’s Society’ .

Challenges:

§ Poor monitoring and follow-up of labs like CD4 cell counts of patients infected with HIV due to financial constraints on most of the patients sides.

§ Under utilization of the lab despite it being fully equipped

§ National stock out of Triommune-40

§ The running costs of the project are higher that the income realized

Recommendations:

A need to increase awareness of the services provided by SAS Foundation

Acquisition of a television for the reception area for clients as they wait to be seen by the medical team

Plans for 2007

§ Start the provision of medical services in Juba

§ Increase our income to meet over 50% of our budget for the year 2007

§ Set up a virtual office

§ Have a fundraiser in United States of America

§ Establish a network of partners in United Kingdom

§ Aggressive marketing of our lab services

§ Provision of free medication for HIV infected children

§ Consolidation of the activities and achievements of the Mentorship program

§ Further development of our training program

§ Organize for a summit for the ‘Winner’s Society’.

General Annual budget and projected income for 2007

10. Conclusion.

The operations of SAS Foundation (U) Limited began in January 2005; we have seen it grow steadily since then in terms of the achievements recorded in the Administration, Medical and Mentorship Program departments. We expect greater achievements in the year 2007.