What’s wrong with our health sector?
Oct 06, 2009
EDITOR—At last we have heard the voice of the president of the Nurses Association defending nurses and a voice for health service. As a clinical officer, I may also add mine.
EDITOR—At last we have heard the voice of the president of the Nurses Association defending nurses and a voice for health service. As a clinical officer, I may also add mine.
Health workers are supposed to be development partners and the sum total of whatever people do must add up to health. Let me illustrate my point by equating an equilateral triangle to health. For a triangle to qualify to be called equilateral, all its sides must be the same length and all its angles must be 60°.
Health workers have been continuously blamed for the failing health service in the country. From questioning their ethics, to stealing of drugs, from negligence to killing of patients.What has gone wrong? It is political will, inter sectoral collaboration and community participation and involvement.
Most of the problems we have in Uganda stem from governance. Those we blame on health are basically of political will not blending well with the communities they lead and the sectors the Government has.
We are not balancing what makes an ‘equilateral health triangle’. What we see as health problems could be blamed on sectors that would add to health. It could be community problems.
For example, from the World Health Organisation and UNDP we have data that 13 million children worldwide die of malnutrition, 3.5 million in infancy.
Out of ignorance we run malnutrition centres in hospitals where there are no gardens, no farms and even the health workers have no knowledge of farming but fill the wards to full capacity with patients! The sectors that are supposed to be blamed are agriculture, education and the communities but the sum total will be wards full of malnutrition recorded as deaths and health workers getting the whip.
The communities forget their roles in food security. UNDP has it that 20.4% of Ugandan children sleep hungry while 7.4% die in infancy due to malnutrition. HIV/AIDS is another example. President Museveni on September 25 at the United Nations in New York said that it is basically a behaviour issue in Uganda. The wards are full of patients.
How much would we reduce on the number of patients if we seriously addressed our behaviour? Most of the problems that weigh down the health service are not in the hospitals but with everyone out there. We must act responsibly and decisively for the common good.
We must fight to:eradicate extreme poverty and hunger,
achieve universal primary education,
promote gender equality and empower women, reduce child mortality,
improve maternal health,
combat HIV/AIDS, malaria and other diseases, ensure environmental sustainability and nurture a global partnership for development.
Uganda has subscribed to the millennium development goals listed above and President Museveni says we are on track although UNDP shows we may achieve something on goals 1,3,6,7,8 but are not anywhere on the much-hyped universal primary education. For every year of completed school for a girl child, infant mortality is reduced by 9 per 1,000. This is a known fact to our leaders and yet our education is still discriminative!
On October 16, 17 and 18th, millions of people around the world will “Stand and Take Action†against poverty and for the millennium Development Goals.
The mobilisation will send a clear message to world leaders that we refuse to be silent in the face of ongoing poverty and inequality.
Where are Ugandans on this? It is time for our leaders and President Museveni in particular, to deliver on some of the promises he makes out there when he meets his peers.
James William Mugeni
wmungadi@yahoo.com
Health workers are supposed to be development partners and the sum total of whatever people do must add up to health. Let me illustrate my point by equating an equilateral triangle to health. For a triangle to qualify to be called equilateral, all its sides must be the same length and all its angles must be 60°.
Health workers have been continuously blamed for the failing health service in the country. From questioning their ethics, to stealing of drugs, from negligence to killing of patients.What has gone wrong? It is political will, inter sectoral collaboration and community participation and involvement.
Most of the problems we have in Uganda stem from governance. Those we blame on health are basically of political will not blending well with the communities they lead and the sectors the Government has.
We are not balancing what makes an ‘equilateral health triangle’. What we see as health problems could be blamed on sectors that would add to health. It could be community problems.
For example, from the World Health Organisation and UNDP we have data that 13 million children worldwide die of malnutrition, 3.5 million in infancy.
Out of ignorance we run malnutrition centres in hospitals where there are no gardens, no farms and even the health workers have no knowledge of farming but fill the wards to full capacity with patients! The sectors that are supposed to be blamed are agriculture, education and the communities but the sum total will be wards full of malnutrition recorded as deaths and health workers getting the whip.
The communities forget their roles in food security. UNDP has it that 20.4% of Ugandan children sleep hungry while 7.4% die in infancy due to malnutrition. HIV/AIDS is another example. President Museveni on September 25 at the United Nations in New York said that it is basically a behaviour issue in Uganda. The wards are full of patients.
How much would we reduce on the number of patients if we seriously addressed our behaviour? Most of the problems that weigh down the health service are not in the hospitals but with everyone out there. We must act responsibly and decisively for the common good.
We must fight to:
Uganda has subscribed to the millennium development goals listed above and President Museveni says we are on track although UNDP shows we may achieve something on goals 1,3,6,7,8 but are not anywhere on the much-hyped universal primary education. For every year of completed school for a girl child, infant mortality is reduced by 9 per 1,000. This is a known fact to our leaders and yet our education is still discriminative!
On October 16, 17 and 18th, millions of people around the world will “Stand and Take Action†against poverty and for the millennium Development Goals.
The mobilisation will send a clear message to world leaders that we refuse to be silent in the face of ongoing poverty and inequality.
Where are Ugandans on this? It is time for our leaders and President Museveni in particular, to deliver on some of the promises he makes out there when he meets his peers.
James William Mugeni
wmungadi@yahoo.com