Uganda's maternal death reduces - WHO report

By Cathy Mwesigwa and Anne Mugisa                                                                             

Uganda's maternal deaths have been reducing at an annual rate of 5.1% in the past 10 years, a just released World Health Organisation (WHO) report has said.

It however, pointed out that the country is still lagging behind in the reduction of maternal deaths which by 2010, stood at 310, over twice the 150 target set by the UN to be realized by 2015.

It is eighth among the African countries that are making progress in reducing maternal mortality with Rwanda leading the pack with an annual reduction of 8.7% between 2000 and 2010.

The report titled 'Count down to 2015: maternal, newborn and child survival' was released at the ongoing Women Deliver global conference that has attracted 5000 participants from 145 countries to the Malaysian capital Kuala Lumpur. 

The participants include representatives of international Development Agencies, funding organisations, philanthropists, government representations, NGOs and Media. They are meeting to share best practices, identify opportunities and challenges to improving maternal health and universal access to reproductive health and rights.

The report is an update on the situation in by 2013 features country profiles featuring core indicators selected by the Commission on information and accountability for women and children's health.

The count down to 2015 is a global movement of academics, governments, international agencies, professional organizations, donors and NGOs. It uses country specific data to track stimulate and support country progress towards achieving the child related development goals especially MDG 4 on reduced child mortality and 5 on improving maternal health.

It pointed out that maternal and child mortality has been dropping over the past two decades globally, but in some countries particularly in Sub-Saharan Africa where fertility remains high, progress has been slower. It said that child deaths are increasingly concentrated in the first month of life. New born deaths now account for 40% or more of all child deaths in 35 of the countdown countries.

"These countries must be prioritized for collective global, regional and national action," the report said…," it said of maternal health. "Improving newborn survival, including reducing still births, must be a major focus of policies and programmes," it added for the child deaths.

It said that under-nutrition coupled with infectious diseases contributed to almost half of all child deaths. Levels of stunting which is a form of growth failure resulting from chronic under-nutrition remain unacceptably high in virtually all the 75 countries.

The report also asked that nutrition must continue to be emphasized as an essential ingredient of maternal, new born and child programmes," it said. It also called for more efforts to deal with the high fertility levels and the unmet need for family planning.  

"Significant challenges remain before us. High population growth remains a looming obstacle to progress in countries where health systems are least equipped to respond to escalations in demand, and pervasive inequities must be addressed if we are to fulfill the promise of MDG 4 and 5 for millions of women and children…," it stated.

But it said that it is a report of hope showing some successes which show that commitment, investment and coordinated action can yield concrete results. It asked others to learn from the success stories.

Uganda's maternal mortality ratio has been reducing from 600 in 1990 to 530 in 2000 and by 2010 was at 310. In East Africa its rate of reduction is behind Rwanda's which reduced at a rate of 8.7% between 2000 and 2010.

It was followed by Tanzania with a 4.6 decline rate, Kenya with a 2.9% decline rate and Burundi whose maternal mortality reduced at a 2.6% rate in the past decade.