Jamila Vallant walks into Alive Medical Services (AMS) in on a Wednesday afternoon to pick antiretroviral medication. She wears a beautiful smile on her face like always but this time she is holding a white box with her, a gift to AMS.
(Left – Right) Jamila Vallant, Jamila’s sister Razia as they hand over their gift of appreciation to Alive Medical Services’ Dr. Pasquine
58-year old Jamila has been married for 14 years and mostly lived in Germany with her husband. She became aware of her HIV-status back in 2004 while in the UK and she was immediately given proper health care. In 2012, she returned home to Uganda and was not sure on how she would continue living positively with proper medical care like she had been receiving while away from home.
Her sister, Razia then told her about Alive Medical Services, a free HIV comprehensive prevention, treatment, care, and support clinic in Namuwongo that serves all clients regardless of who they are. Jamila then made her maiden trip to AMS in Namuwongo and she has been a happy client since then.
Jamila shares that at first, she tried other places but for one reason or another, all would fail in terms of availability of medication, confidentiality among other reasons. “Ever since I came to Alive, I always get treatment for everything even opportunistic infections, few centres provide that. I am also always given all the medication I need and not told to go to another pharmacy and buy this or that, plus the counsellors and doctors are always ready to listen and they give me time. I never feel rushed while at Alive,” Jamila happily shares as she refers to the clinic as Alive, the common name used by most.
As Jamila and her sister conclude with handing over their gift, a cake to Dr. Pasquine Ogunsanya, the Executive at AMS, she shares advice for others living with HIV to always adhere to their medication and learn to take care of themselves exercising healthy living habits. She further encourages people to know their status and accept it if it is positive. “Accepting your status makes you live longer,” she says.
Jamila’s giving heart is what every Ugandan needs to emulate. Giving back to the people and communities that support us creates a ripple effect in serving more people to improve the livelihoods of entire Uganda communities. This is a call to action, to Ugandans for Ugandans; let us support, give back and develop the communities that make us.
Please join Alive Medical Services as we celebrate our 10-Year anniversary this year. We are putting on a fundraising event in that honour and it will be held on Friday July 7th at 5 PM, at the Kampala Serena Hotel’s Victoria Hall under the theme: “Reach all, treat all, save all: Together for an HIV-free generation.”
The Alive Medical Services 10-Year Fundraising Gala will be a high-class dinner filled with entertainment, jazz, performances, auctioning, raffle draws, and networking opportunities. All ticket proceeds will go towards helping our charity clinic continue to provide free HIV/AIDS prevention, care, treatment, and support to our growing clientele.
For more information about the tickets or to DONATE to the cause, Contact us on admin@amsuganda.org or 0787552191 or 0702040446
#AMSat10 #Dine2SaveaLife #Ugandans4Ugandans
Alive Medical Services 