Health clinics across northern Uganda are set to benefit from a World Emergency Relief donation of more than 800,000 pairs of surgical gloves.

The gloves are currently being shipped to Mombasa from where they will be transported to Lira district in northern Uganda. They will then be distributed to health facilities across the region, including Southern Sudan, through WER's local partner agency All Nations Chistian Care.

Commenting on this latest WER donation to Uganda and Sudan, Mathew Langol, Projects Director for ANCC, said, "Health care facilities across northern Uganda and Southern Sudan are extremely limited. Even basic - yet essential - medical supplies and medicines are all too often lacking.

"The provision of surgical gloves will be of immense benefit to medical staff in their daily work and is all the more vital given the high prevalence of HIV/AIDS in the region."

WER has been working in close partnership with local aid agency ANCC since 2001 to respond to the needs of communities in northern Uganda and Southern Sudan, a region affected by conditions of extreme poverty which have been exacerbated by years of violence and insecurity.

WER is one of the few agencies still actively working in the region, and is committed to ensuring essential aid reaches communities which are often overlooked by the international community.

More than 600 tons of emergency relief aid, hospital and educational equipment and medical supplies have been delivered to ANCC by WER over the past six years.

WER and ANCC are also working together to improve access to safe water sources for rural communities in northern Uganda and Southern Sudan. To date, 50 water boreholes have been drilled by WER/ANCC in camps for internally displaced persons (IDPs) and rural communities in the region.

An additional drilling rig is due to be shipped to Uganda within the coming months for use within remote communities in Southern Sudan where lack of access to safe water continues to threaten the health and wellbeing of thousands of people.

Langol added, "The impact that this partnership between ANCC and WER is having on the lives of children and their families cannot be underestimated. It truly is saving lives and bringing hope to those living in one of the most desperate situations in the world."