Mildmay Uganda was Mildmay’s first international programme
opening in Kampala in 1998 as a Centre of Excellence for the provision of comprehensive HIV & AIDS prevention, care, treatment and training services.
Our impact through our beneficiaries’ eyes
Mildmay Uganda
Mildmay Uganda is now an independent hospital and healthcare nonprofit NGO with its own Trustee Board and has grown to be an organisation with a reach of nearly six and a half million people.
It has three core functions: the provision of HIV care and treatment services at the hospital, HIV-focused training and education and the provision of technical assistance to 16 districts in central Uganda to strengthen local health systems.
Care and treatment are provided predominantly on an outpatient basis for most clients. In addition to this, Elizabeth Ward, the 33-bed capacity children's ward, provides care for critically and terminally ill children aged 0-18 years.
On this page:
1,103,994
Estimated disability-adjusted life years averted this year
17,693
Estimated unplanned pregnancies avoided every year
14,540
Estimated new HIV infections averted
4,821
Individuals completed TB treatment during the year
37, 052
Males aged 10-35 received voluntary circumcision for HIV prevention
14,307
Individuals tested HIV positive and enrolled on antiretroviral therapy
3%
Pregnant mothers supported on the Elimination of Mother-to-Child-Transmission (eMTCT)
(2023)
Elizabeth Ward
Mildmay UK provides annual funding for Elizabeth Ward in the paediatric care centre of Mildmay Hospital, Kampala. This is the only facility in the region providing high-quality care to children with the most complex cases of HIV-associated health conditions.
Elizabeth Ward treats over 500 children a year from underprivileged families who require specialist care. Children are admitted to Elizabeth Ward with conditions such as HIV, tuberculosis, meningitis and malaria. Care for each child is highly personalised to meet their particular needs, and support is also provided for their families.
Universal Child Sponsorship Fund
Your donations entirely fund the Universal Child Sponsorship Programme. Since its introduction in 2002, the Fund has supported 1,964 children and adolescents (876 boys and 1,088 girls) with psychosocial support services including economic empowerment of vulnerable households.
In 2017, Mildmay Uganda replaced individually allocated support for children with the Universal Fund to bring the same healthcare, education and food security benefits more equitably to more children and young people.
Past work
A COVID story
At the beginning of September 2021, the Reverend Canon John Stanley, who was 90 on 20 May 2021, challenged himself to walk the City Walls of Chester 90 times by the date of his birthday.
John succeeded in this challenge, and raised over £2,900 for Mildmay Hospital in Uganda, to support its vital Covid vaccination initiatives.
Just one month later, we received an update from our colleagues in Mildmay Hospital in Uganda on the progress of their COVID-19 vaccination programme.
Mildmay’s double impact on vital Early Infant Diagnosis programme
Mildmay was a critical partner with the Ugandan government in a new and improved nationwide Early Infant Diagnosis (EID) programme in Uganda.
EID is a critical pillar in the response to HIV in Uganda as it allows health services to work alongside mothers and families to make decisions as soon as possible about the HIV care needed by every baby born across the country.
Reproductive health, family planning and PMTCT
Mildmay Uganda offers a range of services to young men and women, parents, and families with newborn children – these include a prevention of mother to child transmission (PMTCT) clinic, family planning services, breast and cervical cancer screening, screening for and treatment of sexually transmitted infections (STIs) and reproductive, maternal and newborn health services.
The history of Mildmay Uganda
Mildmay’s work in Uganda started in 1993 following an invitation from the Government of Uganda.
Dr Veronica Moss (then the Medical Director of Mildmay) said: “I was attending a conference on paediatric AIDS in Edinburgh, Scotland, in September 1993 when I met Hon Manuel Pinto, MP for Rakai District, Uganda, and he said to me, "We must talk – I want Mildmay to come to Uganda.”
Mildmay Uganda's hospital was officially opened in September 1998 by Anne, The Princess Royal, and started receiving patients in October of the same year.
The Princess Royal was invited to do so after the death of Diana, Princess of Wales, who had been scheduled to open the hospital.
Uganda was one of the African countries worst hit by the Aids epidemic. Few families remained untouched by the virus, with some 500,000 people having died and another two million - one in six of the population - infected by 1998.
The Queen visits Mildmay Uganda
In 2007, Queen Elizabeth II visited the Mildmay Centre - opened by the Princess Royal in 1998.
In 2007, Queen Elizabeth II visited Mildmay Uganda and its paediatric care centre.
This was indicative of how significant the work done by Mildmay in Uganda had become.
During her visit, The Queen said: “Thank you Mildmay Uganda for the work and the remarkable example set in the provision of care and education for people living with HIV.”
At the Mildmay Paediatric Care Centre, HM The Queen unveiled a plaque for the hospital's new Elizabeth Ward, named in her honour.
The Queen later praised Mildmay's work in an address to the Ugandan Parliament, in which she declared:
"It is difficult sometimes, when the sorrow associated with this disease is so profound, to avoid a sense of despair. And yet there are growing numbers of people and organisations whose work gives cause for real hope.
Today I visited The Mildmay Centre, which sets a remarkable example in the provision of care and relief for those who are ill as well as in educating people about how to protect themselves and their families.
The role of centres such as this, which the Government of Uganda has done so much to encourage, will be central to achieving our common aim of controlling this cruel disease."
HM Queen Elizabeth ll
The President of Uganda, His Excellency President Yoweri Museveni, marked the 10th Anniversary of Mildmay Uganda with a special visit in October 2008, during which he unveiled the foundation stone of the centre’s new laboratory.
Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams visited Mildmay Uganda in 2010 to lend his support to the then-threatened paediatric inpatient unit.
*Mildmay in the UK supports our 'daughter' NGOs overseas
Mildmay KENYA and Mildmay UGANDA now operate independently - they are locally registered with their own Boards of Trustees and constitutions. Although they undertake fundraising and partnership work locally, they rely on Mildmay's supporters in the UK to help fund their work.