ICOBI Integrated Community Based Initiatives

Integrated Community Based Initiatives (ICOBI) is an indigenous NGO founded in 1994 that supports health and community development in Uganda.  ICOBI supports SUSTAIN by engaging communities and improving referral networks between facilities and communities, helping to build a continuum of care for PLHA.

The main goal of the organization is the attainment of better standards of living and prosperity for rural people. Ourvision is Healthy and Prosperous Families and the mission is to improve the quality of life of people through holistic and sustainable programs that meet the basic human needs of families. 

ICOBI has implemented and continues to implement a number of programs and projects at different levels and with different but highly focused themes e.g. Advocacy for better Health, Health Service Provision, Health Systems Strengthening, Operations Research as well as Policy and Guideline Formulation. ICOBI has since 1999 advocated for provision and support for Adolescent health, MCH/Family Planning, STD/HIV/AIDS, malaria and nutrition with support from Brush Foundation and Marie Stopes Uganda. ICOBI has also been actively advocating for an HIV free generation through community PMTCT programs in Ankole region (SW Uganda districts) supported by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). A number of projects with service provision as a major component continue to be effected. These include the first ever District wide home to home HCT in greater Bushenyi Districts and later central Uganda Districts supported by CDC in 2004‐2007 and 2008‐2012 respectively. ICOBI also with support from USAID has been providing comprehensive OVC support to 19,000 children in Bushenyi and Mbarara Districts. ICOBI is also currently providing HCT services under the USAID supported Kampala Good Life Integrated Counseling and Testing Project in Kampala city. ICOBI has strengthened the Uganda’s Health Systems through training of frontline health workers in Comprehensive HIV/AIDS Management, STI diagnosis and Management, Couple counseling and pediatric counseling services with support from Global Fund round 7. ICOBI has also recently trained all technical District officers from 34 Districts of SW and Central Uganda in Monitoring and Evaluation of Health programs also supported by the Global Fund. ICOBI is participating in the current USAID‐SUSTAIN Project aimed at strengthening health systems for HIV/AIDS treatment at national level where we are at all 12 Uganda regional referral hospitals and 4 district hospitals facilitating community linkages in 22 districts. To improve its programs and share best practices, ICOBI implements operational research on HIV/AIDS prevention, specifically electronic platforms for linkage and referral, and other community Linkage strategies to care using evidence based approaches and new technology. ICOBI with support from the University of Washington (Seattle) applies the use of mobile phones in enrolling and following up of study participants and results are shared with the Ministry of Health to guide policy formulation. As a registered HMO, ICOBI is among the first organizations to pioneer and pilot community health insurance services and now covers 3 districts of Sheema, Rukungiri and Luwero.

ICOBI’s competencies have been demonstrated in facilitating access to and sustainability of better health programs and services at community level through designing and implementing relevant programs geared towards prevention and control of infectious diseases and eradication or mitigation of rural household poverty. The latter include HIV, Tuberculosis and Malaria, Maternal and Child Health including Family Planning, Nutrition and Food Security, orphans vulnerable women and children (OVC), operational research, community health insurance and programs geared toward poverty eradication in rural communities. ICOBI does all this working with like‐minded international and local partners (public, private and civil society) through the application of the basic principles of public and private partnerships.