“Burials Before Treatment: A Dangerous Tradition”- By Richard Akandwanaho

When Saving a Life Is Cheaper Than Burying One

Across many communities in Africa, particularly in Uganda, a painful and disturbing reality continues to repeat itself. 

A person falls sick with a disease that is easily treatable. The illness is not rare, complicated, or mysterious. 

Sometimes it is malaria, an infection, or a condition that requires a simple surgical procedure. Yet, the patient dies not because the disease is incurable, but because the small amount of money required for treatment cannot be raised in time.

Ironically, the same relatives, friends, and community members who could not contribute a small amount of money to save that person’s life will later gather and spend enormous sums organizing the funeral.

This tragic contradiction raises an uncomfortable but necessary question: 

Why do we find it easier to bury our loved ones than to save them?

A Life That Costs Less Than a Burial

Imagine a man in a rural village in Uganda like Bukamba, may be Butanda, suffering from malaria. 

Malaria is one of the most common and treatable diseases in the country. 

In many cases, proper treatment may cost less than 200,000 Ugandan shillings including transport to a health facility and medication.

But the man does not have that money.

His relatives know he is sick. His neighbors know he is sick. The community hears that he is struggling with illness. Yet no urgent effort is made to mobilize funds to help him reach a reliable medical facility.

Days pass.

His condition worsens.

Eventually, he dies.

Then something extraordinary happens.

News of his death spreads quickly.

Relatives who could not send 20,000 or 50,000 shillings to help him get treatment suddenly find money to travel from distant towns and villages to attend the burial. Some spend 100,000 shillings or more on transport, food, and other expenses just to attend the funeral.

Within a short time, the community mobilizes millions of shillings to organize the burial ceremony.

The man who could have survived with 200,000 shillings is now being buried with a funeral that costs five or ten million shillings.

This is the painful paradox.

When Culture Honors the Dead More Than the Living

Funerals in many African societies are not merely ceremonies of mourning. They are social obligations and cultural responsibilities. 

Families feel immense pressure to organize dignified burials for their loved ones. 

A funeral must be attended by relatives, friends, clan members, and community leaders.

Food must be prepared.

Tents must be hired.

Transport must be arranged.

Speakers must be organized.

Everything must reflect respect for the deceased.

But in all this effort to honor the dead, society sometimes forgets the most important responsibility saving the living.

We mobilize quickly for burials, but we delay when someone needs treatment.

We contribute generously to funerals, but hesitate when someone needs medicine.

We organize committees for burial arrangements, but rarely organize committees for medical emergencies.

The Story of the Old Man with an Enlarged Prostate

Consider another common example.

An elderly man in a village develops an enlarged prostate. This condition is common among older men and, in many cases, can be treated through surgery or proper medical management.

Let us assume the cost of treatment is around five million shillings.

For many rural families, five million shillings is a large amount of money. 

The family hesitates. They delay. They try herbal remedies. They postpone hospital visits because they cannot mobilize the required funds.

Months pass.

The old man continues to suffer.

Eventually, the condition worsens and complications arise.

One day, he dies.

Suddenly, the same family and relatives who struggled to raise five million shillings for surgery organize a funeral that costs twenty million shillings.

Tents are hired.

Hundreds of people attend.

Food is prepared for large crowds.

Transport allowances are given.

Contributions are collected.

The burial becomes a major event.

But one question remains unanswered:

Why could the family not raise five million to save him, yet manage twenty million to bury him?

Associations That Bury but Do Not Save

Another striking contradiction can be found in community associations.

Across many Ugandan villages and urban neighborhoods, people form saving groups and associations. 

Members contribute money every month. These groups are often organized for mutual support.

However, in many cases, these associations are primarily designed to help members during funerals.

If a member dies, the group releases money to help with burial expenses.

If a member loses a close relative, the group contributes to funeral arrangements.

This system ensures that no member is buried without support.

But here is the troubling question:

Why do these associations rarely have health emergency funds?

Why do they not create systems where members can access money for medical treatment when they fall sick?

Why is it easier for communities to organize funds to bury someone than to organize funds to keep them alive?

Communities come together powerfully in death.

But too often, they remain divided or slow to act when life is at stake.

The Culture of “Too Late”

The tragedy is not simply financial. It is also psychological.

Many people in African communities respond to illness with hesitation. They hope the patient will recover naturally. They postpone hospital visits. They delay decisions because they fear medical costs.

But when death occurs, urgency suddenly appears.

Phone calls are made immediately.

Meetings are called.

Funds are mobilized.

Committees are formed.

Within hours, resources begin to flow.

Unfortunately, by that time, it is already too late.

The same urgency that appears after death rarely appears when someone is still alive and fighting for survival.

The Cost of Our Mindset

This pattern reveals a deeper issue a mindset problem.

We have normalized the idea that funerals must be grand, expensive, and socially impressive. People fear the shame of organizing a “poor burial.”

But there is little shame attached to failing to raise money for someone’s treatment.

This mentality quietly kills many people who could otherwise survive.

It is not only poverty that causes these deaths.

It is also priorities.

When society values the dignity of burial more than the preservation of life, tragedies become common.

A Call for Change

The time has come for communities to rethink their priorities.

What if the same energy used to organize funerals was used to organize medical support?

What if every village association had a health emergency fund?

What if relatives mobilized money immediately when someone fell sick rather than waiting until death occurs?

What if communities measured dignity not by the size of funerals but by the number of lives saved?

Imagine a society where people say:

“We saved him because we came together.”

Instead of saying:

“We buried him well.”

Saving a life should always be more important than burying a body.

The Question That Must Be Asked

The greatest tragedy is not that people die.

Death is part of life.

The real tragedy is when people die from treatable diseases simply because a small amount of money could not be raised in time.

Until African communities confront this painful reality and change their priorities, the cycle will continue.

People will keep dying from curable conditions.

Communities will keep organizing expensive funerals.

And the painful question will continue to haunt us:

Why do we find it easier to bury the dead than to save the living?

By Richard Akandwanaho

Journalist

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