Written by Diana Nabiruma
Thanks to partnering groups in health, the ministry of Health is registering marked improvements in key areas such as maternal health.
In fact at a recent function, a ministry of Health official said one Ugandan district had not reported a single case of a mother dying during childbirth, a scenario probably unprecedented in a country and continent still grappling with high rates of child and maternal mortality. Dr Jacinto Amandua, the ministry of Health Commissioner for Clinical Services, said: “We didn’t have a single maternal death in Fort Portal in the last one year.”
He said this as he launched Management of Sciences for Health (MSH)’s strategic roadmap for Uganda on March 7 at the Serena conference centre. The international organisation works to save lives and improve the health of the world’s poorest and most vulnerable people, by partnering with health ministries to improve reproductive health, HIV, TB, malaria treatment, and drug distribution.
Stephen Lwanga, the MSH country representative, said because they will be able to “decide with government” on which programmes to engage in, they will have a bigger impact. Currently, MSH is running programmes like Track TB which aims at strengthening tuberculosis management within Kampala and its environs.
“Urban TB is a whole different matter,” said Lwanga, explaining why there is need to strengthen TB management in Kampala.
The Sunrise project is aimed at ensuring that consumers have access to drugs. The programme, Strides, for family health, is aimed at improving reproductive and family health. Amandua said efforts of MSH Uganda and those of others supplementing government efforts in health are paying off, as is the case with Fort Portal’s reproductive health.
He also said that working with MSH Uganda would enable government to learn and implement from MSH’s best practices.
Source: http://www.observer.ug/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=24277:uganda-registers-points-in-maternal-health&catid=58:health-living&Itemid=89