Before the Bulungula Incubator opened, our community’s health was severely compromised by the inaccessibility of healthcare. In 2006, a survey we conducted found that one-third of babies died from diarrheal diseases, and half of households had lost at least one child. People living with HIV struggled to access their medication, leading to default and illness, and untreated high blood pressure often resulted in preventable strokes and heart attacks.
Recognising these critical health issues, we established the Bulungula Health Point, a fixed outreach site of Nkanya clinic staffed by a professional nurse, along with our Home-Based Care team to provide primary health services in our community. The Xhorha Mouth Administrative Area, where we implement our projects, is made up of four villages. Despite being geographically small, the rugged landscape can take up to two hours to walk from one side of our community to the other. During routine home visits, our Nomakhayas (community health workers) discovered that children living far from the health point were falling behind on their immunisations, vitamin A, and deworming schedules. Additionally, patients on chronic medication who were less mobile were often defaulting on their treatments due to the long distances they needed to travel. While the Health Point provides better health access, it is still far for many community members.
In order to reach everyone, we extended our health point services by introducing a Mobile Health Point equipped and staffed by a professional nurse. Practically all services available at the Bulungula Health Point can be provided during these outreach visits. The Mobile Health Point offers a wide range of services, including child immunisations, vitamin A supplementation, deworming, child growth monitoring, ARV and chronic medication distribution, sexual and reproductive health (with contraceptive provision and condom distribution), and care for acute and minor ailments. The nurse can also refer patients to the Health Point, clinic or hospital when necessary.
A primary focus is visiting our five Early Childhood Development Centres (ECDCs) to ensure every child is up to date and on track with their immunisations, vitamin A, and deworming schedules, along with regular growth monitoring. Each preschool is centrally located in a village, allowing the community to gather for any other outreach services they need. Our nurse conducts educational talks and awareness sessions for the gathered community members during the outreach events before starting individual consultations. The Mobile Health Point also provides regular services at Bulungula College, focusing on contraception provision, condom distribution, and sexual/reproductive health education.
The Mobile Health Point can also mobilise quickly to respond to urgent or specific health campaigns. Recently, in May, during a measles outbreak in South Africa, the Mobile Health Point visited all our ECDCs for a measles vaccination drive. Children at Bulungula Incubator ECDCs and those under three years old in the community were vaccinated and protected. Anyone suspected of having measles was referred immediately and monitored.
Recognising the positive impact of our mobile health services, we have expanded our outreach to Coffee Bay and are planning to extend services to surrounding villages. The Mobile Health Point is a critical initiative in overcoming barriers to healthcare access to ensure that nobody gets left behind.
