Every person has inherent worth.
However, where someone is born profoundly shapes whether they can access healthcare, receive an education, and have the agency to determine the type of life they want.
We work alongside some of Uganda’s most underserved rural communities to help change that.
Our model brings together healthcare, education, and research because each makes the other stronger.
We provide healthcare and expand access to education because people deserve those opportunities today. Working directly in solidarity with the communities we serve, we can respond to urgent healthcare needs while seeing firsthand where existing systems fall short. Drawing on this insight, we conduct research to design, test, and refine practical solutions that can ultimately scale globally.
At the same time, our global health education programs bring students and emerging professionals into this work, preparing a new generation of researchers, healthcare professionals, and leaders to tackle inequity wherever they go.
We serve communities today,
Build better solutions for tomorrow,
And work to extend their impact far beyond where they began.
What We Do
We are building a model of what high-quality healthcare can look like in places where resources are scarce and unmet need is enormous.
​At Mpunde Health Center, we provide primary, maternal, preventive, and mental healthcare to communities where many essential services are difficult to access.
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What makes our model distinctive is the role that we play to strengthen the existing healthcare system. ETH helps provide mental healthcare across Buyende District, home to more than 400,000 people, while also working with the district health system to strengthen local capacity through training and support for healthcare workers. Our teams also bring preventive services directly into surrounding communities, including immunizations, deworming, vitamin A supplementation, and other outreach programs.
We do this work extremely cost-effectively, seeing more than 15,000 patients annually on approximately $40,000, coming out to just $2.67 per patient encounter.
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Our goal is not simply to run a health center. It is to show how a small, highly resource-efficient health platform can provide excellent care, fill critical gaps across an entire district, and strengthen the health system around it.
Healthcare
Research
We’re turning what we learn on the ground into scalable solutions.
Because we provide healthcare and education directly, we see firsthand where existing systems fall short – and where there are opportunities to do things differently.
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Drawing on our deep connections to the communities we serve, we conduct research to identify practical solutions to some of the most pressing challenges in global health and development. We are studying how healthcare systems can be redesigned, how mental health screening can be improved, and how community-based interventions can help more people receive the care they need.
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We ground this work in some of Uganda’s most underserved communities, asking a simple question: what works? We test, evaluate, and refine approaches that have the potential to improve patient outcomes, save lives, and ultimately strengthen healthcare systems far beyond the communities where they began.
Education
As a key element of our model, ETH is training the next generation of researchers, healthcare professionals and global leaders to tackle some of the world’s most pressing challenges in health disparity and access.
Through our student programs, we not only provide American and Ugandan students with an opportunity to develop skills in research, but also create opportunities for cross-cultural learning and on-the-ground perspective of the realities of daily life in low-resource areas. We hope these experiences shape not only what students know, but how they approach the problems they will spend their careers solving.
We also believe that education should create opportunity for the communities where we work. Through our Educate Mpunde Initiative, we make high-quality education accessible to students in the rural area where we operate. By giving children in these areas a chance to realize their potential as students and individuals, our goal is to energize the communities where we operate and infuse them with a new generation of creative thinkers, educated professionals, and change-makers.
We can only reach so many people ourselves. By educating others and investing in the people who will shape the future, we can multiply the impact of our work.
We believe education is one of the most powerful ways to extend our impact.
Our Ratings on Trusted Platforms
We hold ourselves to the highest standards of transparency and accountability. We’ve earned the Gold Seal of Transparency from Candid and are proudly listed on Charity Navigator, two of the most trusted independent evaluators of nonprofit organizations. Click below to view our profiles and learn more about our impact.
