COVID-19 has affected everyone, but not equally so. The pandemic is exploiting and exposing deep structural inequalities in economies, health care systems, and societies around the world, with devastating and disproportionate effects on the most vulnerable people, particularly those who live in rural settings like those in our project area Busesa. Women have lost their livelihoods yet it was the only way for them to survive, malnutrition is going up, immunization has gone down, children are out of school. The unfortunate thing is that those in urban centers continue to study on line while those in a community like ours have no access to facilities to enable them study on line.

Kitakule Foundation is drawing attention to the short- and longer-term effects of the crisis on women’s and children’s health and economic wellbeing in the rural community of Busesa. Women are more likely to work in informal and/or low-paid jobs—the very jobs that have been disrupted during this pandemic. The poverty levels make it difficult for people to afford sanitizing products. Water sources are located far from homesteads; the masks being promoted are a far cry for most people to access let alone afford to buy. When considered alongside the already existing challenges in this community, it is clear that COVID-19 will greatly impact their lives.

Without knowing when this will all end, we need resources to support improved hygiene, access to sanitizers, continued provision of health care for the children, innovative products to ensure children continue with their education. This is in addition to supporting those who have lost their livelihoods during the pandemic.

With the limited resources available, the foundation has been providing soap to the clinic users. We are also planning to provide nutritional support with provision of direct financial support to the vulnerable widows in the area and  food materials to the children who use the clinic.