Bwindi Community Hospital — Buhoma, Uganda

In 2003, U.S. missionaries founded Bwindi Community Hospital (BCH) as a weekly clinic under a tree on the northern edge of the Bwindi Impenetrable Forest, a region ravaged by malaria, HIV/AIDS and tuberculosis. Since then, the clinic has grown into the area's best community hospital. BCH's medical team is now equipped with a portable blood-testing device, and doctors can test for HIV from the back of their four-wheel-drive "community ambulance." They can also monitor the health of patients, many of whom had no prior method of testing or treatment.

AKP has provided emergency funding to help BCH continue achieving successful results in its many programs, working with local staff members who are increasingly empowered to help their own community. In 2009, AKP and A&K USA are also sponsoring 625 CD4 tests, which count CD4-positive T cells, the white blood cells onto which the HIV virus attaches. The tests allow the BCH medical team to diagnose HIV/AIDS and provide proper treatment to patients. Visitors who stay in the nearby Gorilla Forest Camp of the Bwindi Impenetrable Forest can privately tour the hospital. If they so desire, visitors can even bring with them small necessities for patients from a wish list AKP provides.