Uganda Protestant Medical Bureau (UPMB) is the coordinating body for the Protestant Health Services in Uganda. UPMB is a network of 311 faith-based health institutions in Uganda. Founded in 1957 to serve as a liaison between the Government of Uganda, donors and member hospitals, UPMB now serves as a National umbrella organization with a wider mandate and membership from all over the country. UPMB members provide promotive, preventive, curative and rehabilitative health care to Ugandan people regardless of ethnicity, religious creed, gender and socio-economic status. Approximately 80% of the member institutions are located in rural and poor communities. Like other private non-for-profit health service providers, these units represent an important social asset for the communities in which they are located as they have grown out of initiatives of congregations to address a self determined or identified need. UPMB works with the jointly owned Joint Medical Stores (J.M.S) to increase accessibility to drugs and medical supplies for member units. The UPMB secretariat is located on Plot 728 Namirembe, UPMB Close (off Balintuma road), Mengo in Kampala. The secretariat houses, in addition to its offices, an optical unit.