Village Health Teams across central Uganda have received a major boost in training, mobility, and community trust, yet persistent medicine shortages are preventing them from treating sick children when families need them most. These findings stem from a comprehensive evaluation by the Makerere University School of Public Health, presented on Thursday, October 15, 2026, by Prof Nazarius Mbona Tumwesigye at the 4th Health Promotion and Disease Prevention Conference organized by the ministry of Health.The study assessed the Capacity Building for Community Health Workers in Central Region Project, implemented by the Korea Foundation for International Healthcare in partnership with the ministry across Masaka City, Masaka district, and Bukomansimbi district between 2021 and 2025.For ordinary families, Village Health Teams are the first line of defence in the healthcare system, bridging the gap between rural homesteads and formal clinics. The project aimed to strengthen these community volunteers, and improvements in basic support were striking. Bicycle ownership among health workers surged from 6.8 per cent at baseline to 73.5 per cent at endline, transforming how volunteers travel across scattered rural communities. Access to gumboots jumped from 40.3 to 89.4 per cent, uniforms rose from 54.4 to 87.9 per cent, and mobile phone ownership climbed from 41.3 to 77.3 per cent, while parish coordinators received motorcycles. Training also expanded significantly. Instruction in first aid rose from 38.2 to 72 per cent, community mapping climbed from 38.4 to 70.5 per cent, and disease prevention training increased from 79.3 to 93.2 per cent. Crucially, financial recognition improved: the proportion of workers receiving some form of compensation rose from 46.1 per cent to a full 100 per cent by the end of the project. Wearing proper uniforms and carrying official identity cards, which increased from 3.7 to 47 per cent, gave volunteers newfound visibility and respect at local health facilities. This institutional backing translated directly into deeper community confidence. Overall satisfaction with health worker services climbed from 87 to 93.6 per cent, while local trust rose from 84.4 to 91.5 per cent. Nearly every household, 99.3 per cent, now recognizes their local health volunteer, and household visits within a three-month window increased from 70.3 to 82.4 per cent. Volunteers successfully expanded their duties to screen for non-communicable diseases like hypertension and diabetes, trace children who missed vaccinations, and guide pregnant women toward proper clinic care. Yet, a profound contradiction threatens to undermine these gains: the people on the frontlines are running out of medicine. While training and equipment improved, the proportion of sick children Village Health Teams actually treated plummeted from 60.5 per cent at baseline to 22.4 per cent at endline—a steep 38.1-percentage-point drop. Over the same period, the share of sick children forced to seek care at formal health facilities rose from 26 to 53.9 per cent. Persistent supply chain failures are the root cause. The number of volunteers with the required medications dropped from 94.5 to 67 per cent, and access to essential oral antibiotics slipped. As Professor Tumwesigye highlighted during his presentation, families frequently found volunteers empty-handed when a child fell ill. A male participant from Masaka district echoed this frustration, noting that while the volunteers had done immense work supporting children, they lacked sufficient medicine. Furthermore, logistical setbacks—such as broken bicycles, shared weighing scales, and a 31.3-percentage-point decline in report books supplied by health centres—added friction to daily operations.To secure public health gains moving forward, the research team recommended sustained financial investment through the Primary Health Care fund. Their roadmap calls for guaranteed procurement of integrated community case management medicines, extended digital-reporting training, formal retirement policies for ageing volunteers, and better supervisory support. For the millions of Ugandans who rely on community health workers before ever seeing a doctor, closing the medicine gap will determine whether grassroots healthcare can finally deliver on its promise.The post Medicine shortages undermining village health teams appeared first on The Observer Media Ltd.