I spent my humanitarian trip to Uganda working with one of the organizations in the country that deals with health related problems. The major aim of my trip was to investigate and understand using research techniques the health related issues and come up with interventions on the same. I spent a period of four months in the country going about a number of health related issues and interventions with team members from the organization. Amid those activities, there was one particular instance/experience that really captured my attention. It was during the third month of my trip when we travelled to one of the remote areas in Mbale district in response to a flooding crisis that had led to an outbreak of cholera in the region.
Three quarters of our journey was smooth without major issues on the roads. However, the remaining quarter of the journey seemed a nightmare and forever. This was especially worse when we got to the rural parts of Mbale district along the Lwakhakha - Mbale Road where the roads were unsafe and poor. A large section of the road had no tarmac. Moreover, the parts that had tarmac had giant potholes. In addition, the road was so bumpy and I would feel like I was dancing due to the jumping up and down while inside the vehicle in a certain rhythmic pattern. However, it was not fun at all especially because it was not a planned or intentional one. This actually got me so worried and my worries were confirmed because just some moments later we found a grisly road accident in which two passenger vehicles had been involved and many had already lost their lives while the few survivors were badly injured. We had to halt our journey and offer a helping hand in saving the lives. With the bad road conditions, it took some time to reach the survivors to the nearest hospital and it was so sad that we lost some of them while on the way to the hospital. This is because our drivers had to drive slowly on the road due to the bumpiness and avoid the likelihood of another accident.
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After taking the victims to the hospital, we went back to the village through the same terrain. While we got to the scene of the accident again, we found a group of individuals who seemed shocked as we were by the accident. We decided to interview them on a number of issue related to the road. As I came to learn, the bumpiness on the road is linked to the cause of the accident and many others that have previously happened. Drivers who drive slowly on the road and keep a speed of around 50 kilometers or less are less likely to cause accidents. However, most of the drivers are not patient. As we came to later on learn, one of the drivers of the two vehicles that collided was driving at a very high speed. Due to the bumpiness at the spot, the vehicle lost control and hit the oncoming vehicle with a very high impact thereby causing the accident.
The most worrying thing while travelling in this part is that one could not foretell where the bumpiness would start. We could travel for very short distance that was smooth and then suddenly when you least expect it, the very bumpy parts begin. I noted that in case where the driver is at a very high speed, there is a likelihood of an accident to occur. During our stay in the affected villages by the outbreak, I investigated on some of the health effects that could be as a result of the unsafe roads. I was able to identify some of the survivors of some of the accidents that previously happed and I realized that most of them had suffered some life threatening injuries that included neck injuries, broken bones etc. Most of them had not received adequate and appropriate treatment due to limited accessibility to health care services cause by lack of finances.
In conclusion, some accidents are not as a result of the driver’s fault. Unsafe roads can cause accidents that lead to injuries (Raballand et al. , 2009). In most cases, insurance firms place the blame on the drivers which should not be the case always (Erem et al. , 2017). In this case, the best intervention would be to hold the local government authorities responsible and have them repair the roads and make them safe. From the research I did, one out of every four families had lost a beloved one to the accidents along the road. This is a serious matter that should be addressed by those in charge of the roads as the as the health care department of the local authorities in order to reduce the morbidity and mortality rates related to road accidents as a result of unsafe roads ( Friday & Tukamuhabwa, 2012 ).
References
Raballand, G., Macchi, P., Merotto, D., & Petracco, C. (2009). Revising The Roads Investment Strategy In Rural Areas: An Application For Uganda. Policy Research Working Papers . doi:10.1596/1813-9450-5036
Erem, G., Bugeza, S., & Malwadde, E. K. (2017). Clinical and cranial computed tomography scan findings in adults following road traffic accidents in Kampala, Uganda. African Health Sciences,17 (1), 116. doi:10.4314/ahs.v17i1.15
Friday, D., & Tukamuhabwa, B. (2012). Road Communication Technologies and Safety Regulation Enforcement on Roads in Uganda. International Journal of Advances in Management and Economics,1 (3), 17-26. doi:10.31270/ijame/01/03/2012/03
