For nurse Winnie Katwesigye, working with Uganda's elderly is God's work.

In her job with the Reach One Touch One Ministries, Katwesigye travels up into the mountains to the villages where these often neglected elders live.

A Boda Boda motorcycle taxi takes her as far as it can go. The rest of the way, she walks.

"During my secondary school, I would love to see nurses, the work they would do," she says.

"And I was like, `Oh, God. If I can also be like a nurse.’ And I found God was the answer to my prayers. Yes."

In just 15 years, the number of people 60 and older has ballooned by an estimated 50 percent in sub-Saharan Africa, to about 67 million people. Longer lives should be a cause for celebration on a continent torn by war, decimated by disease and choked by poverty.

But in countries like Uganda, old age is coming with profound hardship, with pensions rare, medical care scarce, and many living in deep poverty. Some advocates are warning of a coming catastrophe, with even more dramatic growth ahead. The World Health Organization projects 163 million older people in the region of by 2050.

Katwesigye does what she can to meet the need.

She carries her tools in a metal case, taking blood pressures and checking blood glucose levels. When she is finished, she often cleans up with water from the plastic tanks most of these people rely on to catch rainwater.

Katwesigye also teaches health and dieting classes in these remote villages. She feeds off the joy her visits give these patients.

"I was called by God to love and serve. So, my passion is for me to be a nurse, especially to take care of those elders who can’t take care of themselves. I’m always happy and I love my job."