Sudan Leader Visits IMA

Joy P. Mukaire, executive director of the Christian Health Association of Sudan (CHAS), recently visited IMA to meet with President Rick Santos and other leaders.

"IMA is charged with delivering basic health care to people in Southern Sudan, and we can only do it with support from our faith-based partners," said Rick Santos, president and CEO. "CHAS is absolutely key to the success of this program."

"Churches are the center of life in many villages, and they are the only hope for delivering health care to the most remote areas," said Ms. Mukaire. In the developing world, it is not unusual for churches and other faith-based organizations to comprise 30 to 70 percent of the health care system.

CHAS plays a key role in the IMA-led consortium's efforts to bring basic health care to local communities in the two largest states of Southern Sudan, Upper Nile and Jonglei. According to Ms. Mukaire, many villages are very remote and difficult to reach, and to this point have had little interaction with the government or other agencies. But almost every village has a strong church presence.

"I've been to churches in these areas where people begin coming to church early in the morning, and more people continue to arrive as the day goes on. People overcome difficult travel conditions and other hardships to get to church, but the result is that several hundred people may be in attendance." Ms. Mukaire states that, because the churches have such a high level of community participation, they are well positioned to play a key role in bringing basic health care to communities, especially those in remote regions.

As a member association focused on public health service delivery within church institutions, CHAS is uniquely equipped to help mobilize local church resources, and Ms. Mukaire is well-suited to lead those efforts. She has been leader of CHAS for nearly three years, following several years of work in medical and health development in neighboring countries. For over thirteen years she worked in a similar role with churches in her home country of Uganda.

Photo Caption: IMA Senior Program Officer Charles Franzén with Joy P. Mukaire, executive director of the Christian Health Association of Sudan (CHAS)