Child Health and Immunization Program Officer, HAFT Uganda
Sarah has coordinated immunization follow-up programs in Kabarole and Kamwenge for five years. She oversees a network of community health workers who maintain village vaccination registers and work directly with local health centres to ensure no child falls through the gaps.
Raised :
$490.00
Goals :
$2,500.00
Progress :
19.6%
A Vaccine Only Works If a Child Actually Receives It
Immunization is one of the most powerful tools in public health. The vaccines exist. The clinics exist. The science is unambiguous: vaccinated children live. Yet in rural Uganda, thousands of children are still dying from measles, whooping cough, and other diseases that a simple injection could prevent — not because the vaccines are unavailable, but because no one told their parents to come back for the second dose.
Our team is currently tracking immunization schedules village by village, family by family, child by child — and we need your help to reach more communities.
Why Children Miss Their Vaccines
Vaccination dropout is not caused by parental neglect. It is caused by a system that assumes caregivers will navigate it alone:
- Health centres are typically 10 to 20 kilometers from remote villages — a long walk with an infant
- Health workers do not routinely follow up when children miss appointments
- Caregivers often do not understand the multi-dose schedule or know when to return
- Work and family demands make it difficult to leave for a full day to reach a clinic
- Without a community-level tracking system, missed children remain invisible to the health system
"My son received his first injection at the health centre but I did not understand he needed to come back. He got very sick later. When the HAFT volunteer explained the schedule and helped me bring him to the clinic, I felt such relief — and such sadness that no one had told me before."
— Rose, mother, Kamwenge District
What Our Volunteers Are Doing in Communities Right Now
Community Vaccination Registers
Our trained volunteers maintain detailed vaccination registers for every child under five in their assigned communities. They track which vaccines each child has received, which are due, and which are overdue.
Reminder Visits and Escort to Health Centres
When a child's next vaccine is approaching, our volunteer visits the family, explains what the child needs and why, and — when necessary — accompanies the caregiver to the health centre. For families without transport, this escort is the difference between vaccination and dropout.
Catch-Up Campaigns for Missed Children
We are currently running targeted catch-up exercises to identify and vaccinate children who have fallen through the system — bringing them back into the immunization schedule before preventable disease can take hold.
What Your Donation Protects
- $15 — covers one volunteer's transport costs for a month of community tracking visits
- $40 — funds escort support for five families to reach a clinic for a vaccination appointment
- $100 — maintains a complete village immunization register for one year
- $250 — funds a catch-up immunization campaign reaching 30 to 50 missed children in one village
A Measurable Impact — and More Children Still Waiting
In communities where our immunization follow-up program is active, vaccination completion rates have improved significantly. The intervention is straightforward, the cost is low, and the impact is measurable: fewer sick children, fewer preventable deaths, and families who understand that their children's health is a priority the whole community shares.
Thousands more children in communities we have not yet reached remain vulnerable. Every dollar you give extends our reach and protects another child.
Donate today. Help us make sure that every child — in every village — receives the protection they deserve.
