The overall aim of this work was to understand acute illness from a community perspective in a remote and rural part of Uganda. Kisoro district is located in south-west Uganda, at Uganda’s border with Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of Congo. Kisoro district is divided into 37 parishes, each served by two Community Health Extension Workers (CHEWs), and 513 villages, where Village Health Teams (VHTs) operate at the community level, typically with two to three members.
Supported by the Cambridge-Africa ALBORADA research fund, the NIHR Global Health Research Group on Acquired Brain and Spine Injury, and a Cambridge Gates Studentship, we conducted community engagement workshops in Kisoro district on 19 and 20 September 2025. The workshop included members of the VHT, healthcare workers at the district hospital and lower-level health facilities, and one patient survivor who shared her experience of acute illness and admission to the district hospital Intensive Care Unit (ICU) in 2024.
This report covers:
Village health workers’ perspectives on recognising and responding to acute illness at community level
Lower-level facility perspectives on assessment, referral pathways, and care delivery
Lived experience of acute illness from a patient survivor in Kisoro district
Key lessons and challenges identified across community and facility settings
Publication Date: 2026-06-18