YKMI staff and partners together in Gulu, Uganda

About YKMI

Partners in learning, rooted in Gulu.

We bring universities, healthcare professionals, students and communities together so that healthcare education serves the people it touches.

YKMI team with members of a partner community

Who we are

YotKom Missions International (YKMI)

YotKom Missions International (YKMI) is a global health education organisation based in Gulu, Uganda. We run international clinical elective programmes, humanitarian healthcare outreach, university partnerships and research, all built on one idea: communities are partners in learning, never simply places where learning happens. Our flagship programme, Oral Health Uganda, takes mobile dental clinics and school-based oral health screening to rural and peri-urban communities, and gives visiting students supervised training alongside local dental professionals.

Our story

It started with Oral Health Uganda.

YKMI’s operational foundation is Oral Health Uganda (OHU), a dental outreach programme built on mobile clinics and school-based oral health screening. OHU is where our community partnership model was first tested: local dental professionals leading care, communities inviting the work, and visiting students learning under supervision.

From that ground, YKMI grew into five connected pillars: international clinical electives, humanitarian healthcare, university partnerships, research and innovation, and community partnership, which runs through all of them.

See our programmes

Dental professional examining a patient at an Oral Health Uganda mobile clinic

Our mission

Preparing compassionate healthcare professionals.

To prepare compassionate healthcare professionals and strengthen communities by delivering world-class international clinical education, humanitarian health programmes, research, and collaborative partnerships that create lasting impact.

Our vision

Community-based global health education, led from Africa.

To be Africa’s leading community-based global health education platform, recognised internationally for excellence in clinical education, humanitarian healthcare, academic collaboration, and ethical global health partnerships.

What we believe

Six guiding principles

The order matters. Each principle sets what comes first when priorities compete.

EducationbeforeActivity

Every placement is designed around what participants learn and what communities gain, not around how much activity it generates.

PartnershipbeforePresence

We work where we are invited and alongside local partners. Being present is never a substitute for genuine partnership.

PatientsbeforeProgrammes

The wellbeing and dignity of the people we serve come before any programme target, timetable or schedule.

HumilitybeforeExpertise

Visiting professionals arrive as learners first, respecting local knowledge and local clinical leadership.

QualitybeforeGrowth

We grow only as fast as we can keep supervision and clinical standards where they should be.

ImpactbeforeNumbers

We judge our work by lasting change in communities, not by how many people pass through it.

Our approach

What makes YKMI different

Collaborative learning model

Programmes are designed with communities and universities, not delivered to them.

Reciprocal learning

Visiting participants learn as much from host clinicians and communities as they contribute.

Communities as partners

Every placement exists because a community invited it, not because it needed subjects for practice.

Integrated healthcare teams

Visiting and local professionals work side by side under one clinical structure, not in parallel.

Professionally supervised

Every clinical activity is supervised to the same standard, regardless of who is performing it.

Long-term partnership

We prioritise sustained collaboration over short-term interventions.

Walk with us.

Partner with YKMI, take part in an elective, volunteer or give, and help communities in northern Uganda lead their own health story.

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