• Opened in January 2007, the Sota Dispensary is designed to serve the Sota Village community and beyond.  It is run by Dr. Esther Kawira, a U.S. trained family physician. Her team consists of one nurse, two nursing assistants, and a laboratory assistant. 
• The dispensary provides important health services in Sota Village and includes treatment for malaria, TB, and the childhood cancer Burkitts Lymphoma.
• Sota Dispensary is mostly for treating outpatients, but has overnight observation rooms and labor and delivery services for mothers who choose to deliver at the clinic.  The clinic has two exam rooms, 5 rooms for in-patients, reception, laboratory, pharmacy, labor room, delivery room, and child immunization and well child room.
• Visitors who wish to fundraise or donate to the Sota Dispensary can keep in mind: mosquito nets (given to all mothers that deliver at the clinic), patient sheets & bedding, clothing/robes, clothes for newborn babies and small children, or find out by contacting Dr. Kawira directly, at elkawira@gmail.com

• There is no government system set up for registering members of a village into a health system; therefore the easiest way to do so is to conduct house-to-house health surveys.  This includes giving every family a registration card with a number unique to their village and sub-village.  Each time a family member comes to the clinic, they bring their registration card with them, and their file and information including past visits is easily located.  Dr Kawira implemented the Sota Village health survey system, and visitors that volunteer at the Sota Dispensary can help to carry it out. 
• With the help of a translater/leader Kilion Nyakyema, visitors walk from house to house in the village and visit the family they are to interview.  They fill out a two-part survey for each family.  The first part consists of general family information, names of wives, children, and dates of birth.  The second part are health-related questions such as disease history, method of water treatment, how they handle sanitation, and problems the family faces.

• Sota Dispensary already targets major areas of health concern, but there is a need for a larger facility, one which can provide even more services.  Dr. Kawira hopes to include a research level, laboratory, X-ray and ultrasound, medical research center, medical library etc. These services as well as ongoing health surveys in the area will serve the larger community, including several surrounding villages near Sota Village. 

In 2007, SHED Foundation authorized the purchase of Lakefront property to build a new health center at Sota.

Dr. Dennis Mull has been the main contributor to the Sota Village Health Project both financially and by bringing teams of medical professionals and students from California for medical rotations. His ongoing support and professional expertise continues to be a huge asset to this facility.

SHED Foundation needs support to raise enough funds to build such a facility.  It will not only provide health services, but it will bring employment to local people and bring professionals back to the rural communities, helping to alleviate alienation between social classes and brain drain from the country.

 

• To establish clinics in previously unserved villages, such as Sota Village.
  

• Village Outpatient Care includes curative services for both acute and chronic illnesses, such as malaria, diarrhea, pneumonia, schistosomiasis, STI’s, TB, HIV, diabetes, and hypertension, plus health maintenance including preventive services, such as antenatal care, immunizations of well children, use of treated bednets to prevent malaria, and family planning. The first such facility is Sota Health Clinic, a dispensary located about 6km away from Shirati.

 

• To create a zonal referral facility for treatment of a childhood cancer (Burkitt’s Lymphoma) that occurs in places with malaria.  (This cancer is common in the Lake Zone around Lake Victoria where Shirati is located.)
• Our strategy to fight cancer includes creating a zonal referral facility for treatment of Burkitt’s Lymphoma, a childhood cancer that occurs in places with malaria. This cancer is common in the Lake Zone around Lake Victoria where Shirati is located.
• Our attention is focus on upgrading treatment to modern standards as directed by the Ocean Road Cancer Institute, the national referral hospital for cancer treatment in Dar es Salaam, and to improve follow-up of patients.
• Our long term goal is to use this facility to treat other cancers in children, and expand to include adults, thus serving all residents of Lake Zone who suffer from cancer.

• To create medical research facility – through the village clinics and the cancer treatment facility -to provide arenas for health related surveys regarding village health problems, and medical research in cancer, including screening, prevention, and improved treatments in the local setting.

• To reach into the households of the local communities to discover chronically ill or disabled members, and connect them with medical and social services.