‘Uganda cannot allocate 15% of budget to health’
Jul 19, 2010
UGANDA cannot allocate 15% of the national budget to health as agreed by the African Union (AU), a government minister has said.
By Frederick Womakuyu
UGANDA cannot allocate 15% of the national budget to health as agreed by the African Union (AU), a government minister has said.
“Prior to the making of the national budget, all ministries meet and propose their budgets. But in most cases, their budgets add up to 150%, beyond the total national budget share of 100%,†said Gabriel Opio, the gender, labour and social development minister.
“When we reconcile to 100%, we discover the money is not enough. So as much as we want to increase the national budget to the health sector, the funds are not there.â€
About 16 women in Uganda die everyday while giving birth or during pregnancy.
Speaking at the opening of the 4th African Union pre-summit conference on gender yesterday at the Munyonyo in Kampala, Opio, however, explained that they were working to reverse the high trend of maternal mortality.
“There is a lot of government support to maternal health. In the 2010/2011 budget, the Government allocated about sh260b to maternal and reproductive health. Of this, about sh60b will cater for reproductive health,†Opio noted.
In the African Union Maputo Declaration of 2003, member countries agreed to commit at least 15% of their annual national budgets to the health sector. Uganda’s budget share to the health sector is 9%, with maternal and child health being the least funded.
According to the 2006 Uganda Demographic Health Survey, Uganda’s maternal mortality rate is at 435 deaths per 100,000 live births and the infant mortality stands at 76 deaths per 1,000 live births.
Maternal, infant and child health are the greatest challenges facing Africa ahead of the 2015 deadline for achieving the Millennium Development Goals.
Bience Gawanas, the AU commissioner for social affairs said every five minutes, an African woman dies while giving birth.
“It is time to say no African woman should die while giving birth. This is the time for African leaders to act and reduce maternal and child mortality,†Gawanas said.
Opio explained that Uganda introduced universal primary and secondary education and has achieved an almost equal number of girls to boys at school.
He said the Government had abolished school fees because parents preferred taking boys to school due to poverty and cultural biases.
The pre-gender summit will end on July 21 ahead of the 15th ordinary session of AU heads of state.
UGANDA cannot allocate 15% of the national budget to health as agreed by the African Union (AU), a government minister has said.
“Prior to the making of the national budget, all ministries meet and propose their budgets. But in most cases, their budgets add up to 150%, beyond the total national budget share of 100%,†said Gabriel Opio, the gender, labour and social development minister.
“When we reconcile to 100%, we discover the money is not enough. So as much as we want to increase the national budget to the health sector, the funds are not there.â€
About 16 women in Uganda die everyday while giving birth or during pregnancy.
Speaking at the opening of the 4th African Union pre-summit conference on gender yesterday at the Munyonyo in Kampala, Opio, however, explained that they were working to reverse the high trend of maternal mortality.
“There is a lot of government support to maternal health. In the 2010/2011 budget, the Government allocated about sh260b to maternal and reproductive health. Of this, about sh60b will cater for reproductive health,†Opio noted.
In the African Union Maputo Declaration of 2003, member countries agreed to commit at least 15% of their annual national budgets to the health sector. Uganda’s budget share to the health sector is 9%, with maternal and child health being the least funded.
According to the 2006 Uganda Demographic Health Survey, Uganda’s maternal mortality rate is at 435 deaths per 100,000 live births and the infant mortality stands at 76 deaths per 1,000 live births.
Maternal, infant and child health are the greatest challenges facing Africa ahead of the 2015 deadline for achieving the Millennium Development Goals.
Bience Gawanas, the AU commissioner for social affairs said every five minutes, an African woman dies while giving birth.
“It is time to say no African woman should die while giving birth. This is the time for African leaders to act and reduce maternal and child mortality,†Gawanas said.
Opio explained that Uganda introduced universal primary and secondary education and has achieved an almost equal number of girls to boys at school.
He said the Government had abolished school fees because parents preferred taking boys to school due to poverty and cultural biases.
The pre-gender summit will end on July 21 ahead of the 15th ordinary session of AU heads of state.