KIHEFO General Clinic

The KIHEFO clinics were started in the early 2000’s by Ugandan born Dr. Anguyo Geoffrey in Kabale, Uganda.  Kabale, as the center town of the Kigezi region of Uganda, is home to the KIHEFO general medical clinic, nutrition clinic, HIV/AIDs clinic and maternal health care clinic.  These clinics have existed in Kabale for 16 years and the staff work to provide all ranges of medical care to Ugandans.  The general medical clinic is home to physician’s assistants, nurses, a dentist, and loads of local patients with varying medical needs.  The cases that clinicians at the general medical clinic can treat range from infectious disease testing to wound care.
 I had an interesting discussion with the other students about the differences in healthcare between a third world country like this and our western world.  Common challenges faced in African medicine is the availability of clinicians in the hospitals and the cost of treatment.  The KIHEFO medical clinic is open 24 hours a day, 7 days a week and charges patients for services based on a sliding scale in relation to income.  The average worker earns $1-3 a day, depending on their place of work and whether they accept payment in cash or in baskets of food.  Because of their work ethic, the people here hesitate to seek medical attention because of the cost or their need to continue working to earn money.

 More commonly, the patient’s that come for medical services are concerning for infectious, communicable diseases including STIs, HIV, tuberculosis, malaria.  When the clinic first began, they attended to patient’s suffering from AIDs and malnutrition.  However, as the economy and health began to pick up in Uganda, they have begun to see more cases of hypertension, obesity, or diabetes.  While these diseases are not as prevalent as in the United States, doctors and physician’s assistants at the clinics are having to adjust their medical practice to learn more about them and take into account these comorbidities when considering patient health and treatment.
 Our group has spent lots of time at the medical clinic and have learned to enjoy the slow nature of life in this city.  As the providers see about 1-2 patient’s an hour during this time of year, we get the chance to learn lots about the culture here in Uganda and have any/all of our questions answered.  Occasionally, the clinic will have a patient and us students will sit in the physician’s room listening to the interaction.  After the physician assistant finishes the visit with the patient, we have a large group discussion about a range of topics, related or unrelated, to the patient’s case.  We have learned from the providers about marriage customs, learned from lab technicians about the intricacies of Brucellosis, and the midwives about the prenatal care that women come from miles away to receive.  We have developed an appreciation for the clinic work that this program does, but mostly we have understood the affect that cultural differences have on the healthcare system and diseases that clinicians manage and treat.

- Nicole

The clinic's solo dentist, Dr. Frank: