PAL Report April 2026 – Julia Hall

It was a massive privilege to return to Lira this year with a fantastic team specialising in Paediatrics and Emergency Medicine. Antoinette and I met ahead of the trip to prepare some Paediatric focussed teaching, and I couldn’t have asked for a better mentor. 

All went smoothly with our Kenyan Airlines flight, and our fantastic guide Arnold picked us up from the airport. The drive to Lira, although long, also passed without drama and we used the time to bond further as a team. We had the usual extremely warm welcome from the Kanberra Hotel staff on arrival, and enjoyed a tasty meal before bed. 

On our first day, we had a productive meeting with the Education team from the University, which allowed us to build some planned teaching sessions into our timetables. We met with lots of different people and signed many visitor books! We also visited the Referral Hospital in the afternoon.

On Tuesday, we hit the ground running, with Antoinette, Alice and I joining the Paediatric Ward Round. We were able to make good connections with the nursing staff, interns and medical students, all of whom were keen to arrange teaching. I learned a huge amount every time I attended a ward round, as naturally the pathology in Uganda can be different to what we see in the UK. That first day, I saw a case of sickle cell vaso-occlusive crisis, multiple complications of local healer practice (such as skin cutting and village tonsillectomy) and possible monkeypox. Later in the trip, we also saw cases of malaria and possible polio, again conditions which are not commonly seen in our UK practice. 

As the week progressed, the team taught at CME (continuous medical education) sessions, undertook bedside teaching and planned classroom sessions. These were spread between the University and Lira Regional Referral Hospital. Topics were requested by the local teams both ahead of our visit and during our time there. In the second week, we taught some topics that had been highlighted as gaps in knowledge at weekly review meetings we had attended. I enjoyed the challenge of the responsive nature of this. We also facilitated a well attended trauma course on the second Thursday afternoon, with lots of practical demonstrations that were well received. 

I took a particular role in teaching ‘Helping Babies Breathe’, the WHO endorsed version of Newborn Life Support. Over the two weeks, we were able to roll this out to around 100 student nurses, midwives, medical students, paediatric interns and neonatal unit nursing staff. This is what I am most proud of achieving during this year’s trip. At the end of our visit, we presented a teaching package to the Neonatal Unit including a baby resuscitation doll, Helping Babies Breathe manual and bag-valve mask, which will allow the local team to continue rolling out the teaching. We also had the Helping Babies Breathe algorithm printed and laminated for display in the Neonatal and Obstetric Units. 

There were many exciting developments at Lira Regional Referral Hospital this year. Since my visit in May 2025, the Neonatal Unit had moved to bigger and more purpose built premises, there was piped oxygen in the walls throughout the hospital, and a new building had been built. The new building included a large lecture theatre which we were able to utilise when other rooms were booked and also a simulation suite. The simulation suite did not yet have any equipment, however, our charity was able to immediately donate a training defibrillator. This room will be invaluable for future visits, and it will be an exciting project for the charity to support the acquisition of more kit. 

During our visit to Lira, we were also able to support the local Otino Waa Orphanage by eating at their fantastic Mexican restaurant one evening, then visiting the Orphanage later in the week to present some toys and clothes that had been kindly donated to us. It was inspiring to see the work that was being done to look after and educate the children, while also giving back to their local community with their health centre. 

I felt that the trip this year was extremely worthwhile. On our last day, a number of staff and students approached me saying ‘breathe baby breathe’ which was a rhyme that Alice had penned to help them to remember the timing of ventilation breaths. Again, I have left with huge amounts of new knowledge and an understanding of global healthcare challenges that I hope will make me a better doctor. The local staff are truly inspiring in their aspirations to continue moving forward despite the challenges that they face.

The trip was such a success thanks to the brilliant and cohesive team that we were. We also couldn’t do it without our fantastic guide Arnold who kept us safe, on time and made sure that we had enough petrol to get back to Kampala! Nothing is ever too much for him. Final thanks must go to the brilliant staff at the Kanberra Hotel – they were so friendly, cooked us amazing food and made us feel part of their family.