Center for Health, Human Rights and Development (CEHURD) is today holding a training of Health professionals on the legal defense of the Harm Reduction  Model at Eureka Place in Kampala.

The training is aimed at increasing  health worker commitment to utilize the harm  reduction model  in providing the needed and relevant legal and safe abortion services. Using the Harm Reduction model can greatly reduce harm before and after to save the lives of the women that are lost to complications as a result of clandestine unsafe abortions.

”Young women have approached us on various occasions seeking services to  terminate unwanted pregnancies.  We offer them counseling services,  but when they go, they later return with abortion complications. Some buy drugs others use instruments to terminate pregnancies. Then they return to us for post abortion complication treatment. Government should allow abortion to specific circumstances like rape, defilement, incest etc because these are the cases we see every day. We believe if this is done, it will reduce the deaths of women that occur as they try to terminate these pregnancies ” a  midwife remarked.

Uganda has one of the highest rates of unsafe abortion in Eastern Africa. According to the recent report released by the Guttmacher Institute, the estimated rate of 54 abortions per 1,000 women of reproductive age  is far higher  than the average  of 39 abortions per 1,000 women from East African region. It is also important to note that Uganda still implements very archaic colonial legislations that restrict safe abortions and end up endangering lives of women. Training health service providers in the Harm reduction model therefore allows women access accurate information on access to safe and legal abortion

The training has attracted a number of  service providers including obstetricians and midwives who have shared their experiences and the dilemma they face in providing abortion services including counseling and post-abortion care. They have remarked that the Harm Reduction Model and its legal defense are critical and timely for the work they do since they take oaths to save lives at all costs.

MEETING WITH ROTARY CLUB PRESIDENT ON SAVE A MOTHER CAMPAIGN.

 “Of late, there is increased media awareness on maternal health rights. It was thus easy for us to identify the Center for Health, Human rights and Development as the leading institution of maternal health advocacy in Uganda. We have seen you institute cases of maternal deaths and reaching out to the most vulnerable women in this country. When one checks online, your work is visible. When Rotary Club of Wandegeya Kampala called on stakeholders to the launch of the “save a mother campaign” you did not hesitate, you quickly responded and showed commitment by turning up, we visibly saw you, we saw your banners, tear drops and CEHURD was all over. This was a determination that we could work together. It’s not surprising therefore that when the board of the club, your name appeared on the list of those we wanted to have on the committee for the campaign. We are grateful that even when we sent an email, your response was prompt.” Daniel Lubogo, President Rotary Club of Wandegeya, Kampala during a meeting held with CEHURD on 25/1/18.

Center for Health, Human Rights and Development (CEHURD) will convene a panel discussion on “Decentralisation of Health Care and the realization of the Right to Health” on 20^th September 2017 at Makerere University Main Hall between 2: 00pm – 4:00pm.

The session is part of the 4^th Annual National Conference on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights scheduled to take place on the 20^th and 21^st  September 2017 at Makerere University Main Hall under the theme: “Local Government and Service Delivery in Uganda: Achievements, Challenges and Way forward”.

The conference will bring together representatives from Government Agencies, Local Governments, NGOs/CBOs, members of the academia, students, participants all over Africa, representatives from the diplomatic missions, development partners, corporate entities and the business community.

Registration: Please Register Here

Download:  Conference Concept Note           Conference Programme

By Dennis Jjuuko

The Center for Health, Human Rights and Development (CEHURD), in conjunction with Marie Stopes Uganda, Human Rights Awareness and Promotion Forum (HRAPF) and Ipas Africa Alliance convened a two days workshop for Members of Parliament on the status of Sexual Reproductive Health and Rights in Uganda.

The meeting attracted a number of MPs from Uganda Women’s Parliamentary Forum (UWOPA) and Network for Women Ministers and Parliamentarians- Uganda Chapter (NAWMP).

The meeting stressed the need for a clear law on termination of pregnancies and members of parliament were called upon to utilize the various opportunities and levels of power within Parliament to not only build consensus about the various SRHR challenges that are experienced by their constituencies but also initiate the desired changes for improved SRHR. They have the capacity to act, to question and to propose legislation and policy, summon the responsible ministers through the  health committee to give an account of the actions that are being taken to address some of the more challenging SRHR issues affecting Ugandans like maternal mortality from preventable causes including hemorrhage and unsafe abortion, low contraceptive prevalence, infertility, and reproductive cancers like cervical cancer among others.

Parliamentarians were asked to take advantage of the supportive environment that includes: policy statements of Ministry of Health, government commitments for instance at the London Summit of 2015 where the President made lots of commitments for Family Planning, the Maputo plan of Action which is a Continental framework for SRHR to which Uganda is a signatory, and the International Conference on Population and Development. There are equally many partners who want to work with and support parliament, Parliament can also use Champions to advance the cause and among these are both the Speaker and Deputy Speaker of Parliament who are already Champions for SRHR.

At the end of the workshop, it was agreed that SRHR can be advanced through legislation because Laws are made to address identified injustices and inequities that are marked by the high unmet need for family planning, high rates of teenage pregnancy, high rates of unsafe abortions and high maternal mortality rates.