LEPROSY and sleeping sickness might be some of the diseases encountered by two nurses heading out to Africa next year.

Nurse practitioners Rita Miller and Christine Robinson are founding members of Yorkshire Practice Nurse Aid Group and are to travel to Uganda in January to set up a community nursing project charitable hospital in Kagando in the south west of the country.

Rita, who is more used to treating students as part of her work at the University of York Health Centre, said the trip was a preliminary visit before a longer stay later on in the year.

She said: “Our intention is to raise money to enable us to set up a project of care within the hospital and community as well as supplying equipment and resources.

“During the preliminary visit we intend to carry out a health/work needs assessment, working jointly with the dedicated staff of the hospital looking at the feasibility of providing teaching and clinical support.

“Subsequently, we intend to return for a longer period to establish a sustainable programme of work where it is most needed.”

The hospital in Kagando, a rural town near the Congolese border, serves a community of mainly poor subsistence farmers. It relies heavily on charitable funding to provide surgical and medical care and training and is surrounded by the foothills of the Rwenzori Mountains.

Christine, of York Medical Group, said: “Our aim is to set up and provide training, to take nursing care out into the community. We expect the challenges of working with limited resources alongside Ugandan colleagues will be of mutual benefit, providing us with new enriching experiences.”

The charitable hospital the pair is going to is run by the Church of Uganda.

They said the government health budget amounts to £6 per person per year and although there were good surgical and medical facilities within the hospital, there was limited after-care available to patients when they returned home.