Team Gulu are a group of medical students who travel to Gulu in Northern Uganda this summer to take part in Northern Uganda Village Health Outreach Project (NUV-HOP). NUV-HOP is a community based health project organised by medical students from Manchester, Uganda and Belgium. Years of brutal civil war has devastated Northern Uganda. Poverty is rife and diseases like HIV and malaria are common. The lack of a solid infrastructure means that people often don’t get access to the healthcare they seriously need. Each year a group of medical students travel to Uganda to organise outreach clinics and observe and assist local healthcare staff as they provide free health services to impoverished rural communities in the area, and this year, for the first time, the opportunity has also been extended to dental students.

The overall goal is to improve the living conditions for these people by establishing an affordable healthcare provision and empowering individuals through health education and longer term health services. We shadow staff in the local hospital, giving us the opportunity to be exposed to a different of diseases specific to Sub-Saharan Africa and an opportunity to gain valuable insight into a different healthcare system and the challenges it faces.

NUV-HOP is a project that empowers students to make positive impacts on communities in need, it encourages multi-cultural collaboration and for students to see themselves as global citizens. It is an incredible learning experience for all involved and, most importantly, has a beneficial impact on those communities that are struggling.