Grace Oburu, Woman MP Tororo chats with primary health minister Emmanuel Otaala at Protea Hotel, Kampala

By Anthony Bugembe

REPRODUCTIVE health supplies in East Africa are still low and their demand continues to exceed the available funding, primary health state minister Emmanuel Otaala has said.

“Awareness remains low and our governments still have to prioritise and gain ownership of causes and solutions (of the low supply),” Otaala noted.

The minister was opening a high level policy meeting on reproductive health commodity security in East Africa at Protea hotel recently.

Reproductive Health Commodity Security ensures that people are able to choose, obtain and use consistently reproductive health supplies they want and need for their well-being, quality of life and health status.

“Out of every 100,000 women, 435 die of pregnancy-related causes. All these statistics are high and much of it preventable, largely through access to reproductive health choice and family planning services,” said Janet Jackson, the United Nations Population Fund representative to Uganda. She added: “We have a long way to go before we can say we, especially women, are able to, on the basis of informed choice, select, obtain and use reproductive health supplies, especially those related to family planning and maternal health.”

According to the 2006 Uganda Demographic Health Survey, 41% of married women who want to either space or stop giving birth cannot because of lack of access to family planning methods and services. The contraceptive prevalence for all family planning methods is 24% out of which 18% use modern contraceptive methods.

“Lack of adequate quality access to commodities partly contributes to unmet need not turning into actual demand, usage and continuity,” Jackson said.

According to statistics from the Uganda Health Marketing Group, 91 million condoms were circulated last year and most of them were used, causing a temporary shortage early this year.

Otaala said: “Without supplies, no health or poverty reduction production can be successful,” he said. And yet poverty reduction is one of the Millenium Development Goals.

Uganda’s population stands at about 30 million. The 3.4% annual population growth rate remains one of the highest in the world. If the current trend continues, the population is estimated to reach about 130 million by 2050., putting pressure on the Government and natural resources.