Location
Tonya is a village located in the Hoima District. It lies on the Eastern shores of Lake Albert approximately 45 km from Hoima town. Due to recent developments with the oil industry, there is now a new tarmac road. This road almost reaches Tonya but still leaving a treacherous unmade road for the last few kilometres. Because of this section of road it means it takes nearly an hour to reach Tonya village from the tarmac.
Tonya Health Centre
Tonya is home to a government health centre. For the two years up until June 2015 Tonya had no midwife. Now with the arrival of Viola, the new midwife, the government have increased the clinic to a Health Centre III. Viola lives on site. Her room is in the clinic building adjacent to the delivery room. She works with two comprehensive nurses for colleagues.
Viola the midwife
Viola was one of the Ugandan student midwives we met two years ago in Hoima. She was one of six students who worked alongside six UK students who came out from Basingstoke. Viola worked in Azur Clinic with Grace’s team. She then successfully applied to the government for a new position. And she was placed in Tonya. It is lovely to see Viola qualified and with her own clinic, albeit quite remote.
Services in Tonya
Viola’s responsibilities include offering the women of the village antenatal, intrapartum and postnatal care, advice and health education. When we visited in July the women were still using the local TBA (traditional birth attendant) for delivering their babies, but coming to Viola for antenatal care.
MAMA’s support
MAMA plans to support Viola in her new clinic. We will offer training and provide essential equipment to herself and her two colleagues. When we arrived in July there was no adult or neonatal resuscitation equipment and no syntocinon (although the rest of the drug cupboard was very well stocked).