Uganda
In July 2008 Maternity Worldwide conducted an assessment visit to Uganda in East Africa. With a population of 22 million and $ 300 per capita GNP, Uganda is among the poorest countries in the world. The average life expectancy is 47 years while the population per physician is 18,575 and per midwife is 1800. The maternal mortality rate is 504/100,000 live birth and largely preventable diseases account for over 75% of the life years lost to premature death.
Perinatal and maternal conditions account for 20.4% of the life years lost due to premature death. Malaria accounts for 15.4%, pneumonia 10.5%, AIDS9.1% and diarrhoea 8.4%.
The main challenge to achieving safe motherhood goals still remains access to quality care. Skilled manpower training is a major handicap in the interim period towards implementation of the safe motherhood program. There are inadequately trained service providers with a relative concentration at the tertiary level of care. Untrained providers serve the rural primary health care network. Poor incentives for rural deployment of highly skilled human resources are largely responsible for the unfavourable staffing patterns of the primary health care network that serves the majority of the population.
33% of health facilities in the country do not provide maternity services, and only 57% of the hospitals are equipped to conduct general anaesthesia. Many families rely on self-treatment or seek services of traditional healers and traditional midwives. Whereas nearly 90% of pregnant women make an antenatal care visit, over 64% do not benefit from a trained assistant during childbirth The Ministry of Health is upgrading selected health centre at each constituency level to provide essential obstetric care, caesarean section and basic emergency surgery.
Maternity Worldwide, is therefore working currently to develop with local partners an intervention that will contribute towards a reduction in death and serious illness arising as a consequence of pregnancy and childbirth as well contribute towards a reduction in neonatal death and serious illness in the Masaka region, Uganda
