Butabika National Referral Hospital, commonly known as Butabika Hospital is a

hospital A hospital is a healthcare institution providing patient treatment with specialized Medical Science, health science and auxiliary healthcare staff and medical equipment. The best-known type of hospital is the general hospital, which typically ...

Kampala Kampala (, ) is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Uganda. The city proper has a population of 1,875,834 (2024) and is divided into the five political divisions of Kampala Central Division, Kampala, Kawempe Division, Kawempe, Makindy ...

Uganda Uganda, officially the Republic of Uganda, is a landlocked country in East Africa. It is bordered to the east by Kenya, to the north by South Sudan, to the west by the Democratic Republic of the Congo, to the south-west by Rwanda, and to the ...

's capital and largest city. It is the mental health national referral hospital for the entire country's estimated population of 36 million in 2014.

Location

Butabika National Referral Hospital is located in Butabika, a neighborhood within Kampala. Butabika lies in the southeastern part of the city, in

Nakawa Division Nakawa Division is one of the five administrative divisions of the city of Kampala, the capital and largest city of Uganda. The town of Nakawa is the site of the division headquarters. Location Nakawa Division lies in the eastern part of the city ...

, adjacent to the northern shores of

Lake Victoria Lake Victoria is one of the African Great Lakes. With a surface area of approximately , Lake Victoria is Africa's largest lake by area, the world's largest tropics, tropical lake, and the world's second-largest fresh water lake by surface are ...

Africa Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent after Asia. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 20% of Earth's land area and 6% of its total surfac ...

's largest fresh-water lake. This location is approximately , by road, east of Kampala's

central business district A central business district (CBD) is the Commerce, commercial and business center of a city. It contains commercial space and offices, and in larger cities will often be described as a financial district. Geographically, it often coincides wit ...

. Butabika Hospital is about southeast of Mulago National Referral Hospital. The coordinates of Butabika Hospital are: 0°18'57.0"N, 32°39'33.0"E (latitude: 0.315845 and longitude: 32.659160).

Overview

Butabika Hospital is a public

psychiatric hospital A psychiatric hospital, also known as a mental health hospital, a behavioral health hospital, or an asylum is a specialized medical facility that focuses on the treatment of severe Mental disorder, mental disorders. These institutions cater t ...

, funded and administered by the

Uganda Ministry of Health The Ministry of Health is a Cabinet of Uganda, cabinet-level government ministry of Uganda. It is responsible for planning, delivering, and maintaining an efficient and effective healthcare delivery system, including preventive, curative, and reh ...

and general care in the hospital is free. The hospital is the only referral psychiatric hospital in Uganda. Opened in 1955, it has a bed capacity of 900, as of February 2010. The hospital also serves as the psychiatric teaching hospital for Makerere University College of Health Sciences for both

undergraduate Undergraduate education is education conducted after secondary education and before postgraduate education, usually in a college or university. It typically includes all postsecondary programs up to the level of a bachelor's degree. For example, ...

and

postgraduate Postgraduate education, graduate education, or graduate school consists of academic or professional degrees, certificates, diplomas, or other qualifications usually pursued by post-secondary students who have earned an undergraduate (bachelor' ...

training, especially for the degrees of

Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery A Bachelor of Medicine, Bachelor of Surgery (; MBBS, also abbreviated as BM BS, MB ChB, MB BCh, or MB BChir) is a medical degree granted by medical schools or universities in countries that adhere to the United Kingdom's higher education tradi ...

(MBChB), Master of Medicine in Psychiatry (MMed Psych) and

Doctor of Philosophy A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, DPhil; or ) is a terminal degree that usually denotes the highest level of academic achievement in a given discipline and is awarded following a course of Postgraduate education, graduate study and original resear ...

(PhD) in psychiatry. Butabika Hospital is also the location of the Institute of Psychiatric Clinical Officers, a school administered by the Uganda Ministry of Health, which trains high school graduates to become psychiatric clinical officers. It is the only school of its kind in

Eastern Africa East Africa, also known as Eastern Africa or the East of Africa, is a region at the eastern edge of the Africa, African continent, distinguished by its unique geographical, historical, and cultural landscape. Defined in varying scopes, the regi ...

. Whilst working at the hospital n the early 2000s, Etheldreda Nakimuli-Mpungu noticed a large number of HIV/AIDS patients were being admitted with serious mental health problems. This inspired her to begin a research programme which has since proven that culturally appropriate, group psychotherapy, which is led by non-professional practitioners is an effective treatment of depression in HIV patients, which has positive impacts on their physical health.

References

External links

Butabika Hospital Homepage

Uganda Ministry of Health Homepage
{{Kampala District Hospital buildings completed in 1955 Psychiatric hospitals in Uganda Hospitals in Kampala Nakawa Division 1955 establishments in the British Empire Teaching hospitals in Uganda

Location

Overview

See also

References

External links