Too early to celebrate declining maternal deaths
EDITOR: Quoting a preliminary joint report from the United Nations agencies, a local TV broadcaster recently indicated that Uganda’s maternal mortality rate had reduced from 435 per 100,000 live births to 350 per 100,000.
EDITOR: Quoting a preliminary joint report from the United Nations agencies, a local TV broadcaster recently indicated that Uganda’s maternal mortality rate had reduced from 435 per 100,000 live births to 350 per 100,000.
This is a difference of only 85 women who can now happily live and take care of their newborns and families. As much as these figures give us hope that we can still achieve more, it is very early to celebrate when many mothers still die or get permanent disability from childbirth. For all advocates of improved maternal health, our motto is: No mother or child should die of pregnancy-related causes.
It is therefore still painful to find that, even when figures drop to 350 per 100,000 live births, using the analogy of passengers, nearly a full omnibus still crashes everyday in Uganda killing all the occupants—the mothers!
This is unacceptable and intolerable. But because these mothers are scattered all over the country, some in hard-to-reach areas, we seem to accept the mortality figures as not 'scandalous enough'.
My appeal goes to every Ugandan, especially men, at household and leadership levels, to consider adding a little more effort in understanding the plight of mothers and using their sphere of influence to improve access to and delivery of maternal health services. Remember without them, we would not exist.
Deo Agaba
Sheema
This is a difference of only 85 women who can now happily live and take care of their newborns and families. As much as these figures give us hope that we can still achieve more, it is very early to celebrate when many mothers still die or get permanent disability from childbirth. For all advocates of improved maternal health, our motto is: No mother or child should die of pregnancy-related causes.
It is therefore still painful to find that, even when figures drop to 350 per 100,000 live births, using the analogy of passengers, nearly a full omnibus still crashes everyday in Uganda killing all the occupants—the mothers!
This is unacceptable and intolerable. But because these mothers are scattered all over the country, some in hard-to-reach areas, we seem to accept the mortality figures as not 'scandalous enough'.
My appeal goes to every Ugandan, especially men, at household and leadership levels, to consider adding a little more effort in understanding the plight of mothers and using their sphere of influence to improve access to and delivery of maternal health services. Remember without them, we would not exist.
Deo Agaba
Sheema