When childbirth becomes a deadly gamble

Studies show that addressing the unmet need for family planning in Uganda can potentially avert some 16,877 maternal deaths and more than 1.1 million child deaths by 2015.

Meeting the unmet need for contraceptives can also potentially reduce maternal deaths by 40 per cent while unplanned pregnancies and induced abortions would decline by 84 per cent.

Because of the huge unmet need for family planning, fertility rates have also remained high with each woman having on average seven children - some even more over their reproductive lifetime.

The Guttmacher report shows that when women delay their next birth or have fewer children, the rate of population growth declines and the potential to educate, train, and meet the economic demands of a young population becomes easier.
“Slower population growth can yield savings on the costs of providing health, clean water, sanitation, and social services,” the report reveals.

To address the huge challenge of maternal deaths, health experts say more investment will be needed in the health sector. “Leaders will have to make reproductive health a priority and devote 15 per cent of their budgets to health as they agreed in Abuja.”

“They also need to invest resources in training doctors, nurses and midwives to tackle the gap of health workers,” said Ms Obaid. In Uganda only half of the jobs in the health sector are currently filled while health budget spending is 9.7 per cent of the national budget far below the commitment agreed to in Abuja in 2001.

According to a report by the Population Secretariat, the body that advises government on population policy issues, the high population is already having huge implications on the health sector.

It shows that currently there is one nurse for every 4,000 people while for every 9,500 people, there is one health facility. Ms Obaid said reducing maternal deaths eventually will require commitment and funding and a functioning health care system.