Busoga hospitals are making space for children to play, learn and heal

Published By BHF |  August 2, 2026

Busoga Health Forum extends child-friendly care through community dialogue, health-worker engagement and the donation of play and learning materials across the region.

Children participate in a drawing and colouring activity at Kamuli General Hospital. The activity gave children an opportunity to express themselves while demonstrating how play can support participation and emotional well-being in healthcare settings. Photo: Busoga Health Forum.

By Tatumwa Desmond Benjamin| Busoga Health Forum  |  August 2026

A hospital can be an intimidating place for a child. The unfamiliar rooms, illness, medical procedures and long waiting times can create fear at the very moment when a child most needs comfort and reassurance. Busoga Health Forum is working with hospitals across the Busoga Region to change that experience by placing play, communication and children’s rights within the delivery of paediatric care.

In the latest phase of the initiative, BHF supported six hospitals with child play and learning materials: Kamuli General Hospital, Kamuli Mission Hospital, Buwenge General Hospital, St Francis Hospital–Buluba, Iganga General Hospital and Bugiri General Hospital. The materials are intended to strengthen child-friendly corners and give children opportunities to read, draw, play and receive health information while waiting for care or during admission.

The intervention is part of a broader child-rights programme that also promotes community dialogue, awareness, children’s participation, health-worker orientation, caregiver education and the establishment of supportive spaces within paediatric departments. The approach recognises that quality care is not measured only by medicines and procedures, but also by whether children feel safe, respected, heard and included.

Starting with dialogue and children’s participation in Kamuli

Community Health Extension Workers and Village Health Team members participate in a child-rights engagement at Kamuli General Hospital. Photo: Busoga Health Forum.

The regional activity began at Kamuli General Hospital with a meeting involving Community Health Extension Workers and Village Health Team members. The discussion explored children’s rights and responsibilities, prevention of violence against children, inclusion of children living with disabilities and the importance of involving children in decisions that affect their health and well-being.

Community-level workers are often the first link between families and formal health services. By strengthening their understanding of child protection and participation, the initiative extends child-friendly care beyond hospital walls and into the communities where children live. The engagement also reinforced the principle that a community that understands children’s rights is better positioned to protect children, recognise risk and connect families to appropriate services.

The meeting was followed by a practical painting and colouring activity with children. Rather than speaking about participation only in theory, the activity created a safe space in which children could choose colours, draw, interact and communicate through creative expression. It demonstrated that children can contribute meaningfully to activities within healthcare environments when adults provide the time, materials and encouragement.

Dorothy Akongo, the Project Coordinator at Busoga Health Forum, explained that the initiative is intended to help hospitals move beyond an illness-centred approach and create care environments that respond to children’s developmental, emotional and communication needs. She emphasised that the value of the materials will depend on how consistently health workers and hospital leaders use them to support participation, reduce fear and improve the experience of children and caregivers.

Taking play and learning materials to hospitals across Busoga

Handover of play and learning materials at Kamuli Mission Hospital.

Hospital staff and BHF representatives during the handover at St Francis Hospital–Buluba.

Following the Kamuli General Hospital activities, BHF continued the handover of materials to Kamuli Mission Hospital, Buwenge General Hospital, St Francis Hospital–Buluba, Iganga General Hospital and Bugiri General Hospital. Each facility received a selection of resources suited to children’s play, learning and communication needs.

The materials included children’s storybooks and picture books, educational posters and visual aids, drawing books and crayons, toys, child-sized plastic chairs and storage materials. Within a paediatric unit, these simple resources can serve several purposes: they can occupy children during long waiting periods, support early learning and stimulation, make communication easier and create opportunities for health workers to observe and engage children in a less threatening way.

Hospital staff and BHF representatives review play, drawing and learning materials during the handover at Bugiri General Hospital. Photo: Busoga Health Forum.

The handovers were therefore not presented as stand-alone donations. They were linked to a wider responsibility for hospital teams to organise, protect and actively use the materials. The aim is to ensure that the resources become part of routine paediatric care rather than items that are stored away after a ceremonial handover.

Hospitals are turning training and materials into lasting child-friendly spaces

Dr Rolland Mutumba, Consultant Paediatrician at Iganga General Hospital, with colleagues during the BHF visit. Photo: Busoga Health Forum.

Iganga General Hospital At Iganga General Hospital, Dr Rolland Mutumba, a Consultant Paediatrician, highlighted the importance of play in the care of children. He explained that play supports comfort, communication, development and emotional recovery, particularly for children who may be frightened or remain in hospital for extended periods. Following child-rights training supported by BHF, the hospital established a children’s play room within the paediatric ward. The room provides a dedicated place where children can interact with age-appropriate materials while receiving care. The development shows how training can lead to a practical change in the hospital environment when local clinical leadership takes ownership.

Bugiri commits to a permanent play centre

The leadership of Bugiri General Hospital also demonstrated a commitment to sustaining the initiative. The hospital has identified a dedicated space within its grounds for a children’s play centre, which it plans to establish by the end of 2026. In the meantime, the hospital is repainting walls in areas where children receive care, using more attractive and child-friendly designs that can stimulate learning and make the environment feel less clinical.

This commitment is significant because lasting child-friendly healthcare depends on more than donated materials. It requires hospitals to allocate space, assign responsibility, maintain resources and incorporate play and child participation into routine service delivery. Bugiri’s planned play centre and Iganga’s established play room demonstrate different ways in which hospitals can translate the same principles into locally appropriate action.

A child uses toys in an emerging play area at Kamuli Mission Hospital, showing how donated resources can be integrated into paediatric care. Photo: Busoga Health Forum.

Play is part of quality care The impact of the initiative is beginning to appear in both visible and less visible ways. The visible changes include colourful chairs, books, toys, drawing materials, painted walls and dedicated play areas. The deeper change is in how hospital teams understand children: not as passive recipients of treatment, but as people who communicate, learn, feel fear, need reassurance and have a right to participate in matters affecting them. For Busoga Health Forum, the next priority is to continue supporting hospital teams to use the materials responsibly, strengthen child-friendly communication and involve caregivers and communities. The broader programme covers Jinja Regional Referral Hospital, Buwenge General Hospital, Kamuli Mission Hospital, St Francis Hospital–Buluba, Bugiri General Hospital, Iganga General Hospital and Kamuli General Hospital.