Prioritise safe and dignified childbirth

On September 17, Uganda joined the rest of the world in observing the World Patient Safety Day. This year’s theme was ‘Safe Maternal and Newborn Care’ with the slogan,  ‘Act now for safe and respectful childbirth’. 

In her message  about the day,  the Minister of Health, Dr Jane Ruth Aceng said the theme was selected due to the significant burden of risks and harm women and newborns are exposed to when receiving unsafe care during child birth.

The World Health Organisation (WHO) regional director for Africa, Dr Matshidiso Moeti, in a statement on the same, also pointed out that women face physical and verbal abuse and exclusion from decision making about their care.

While patients go to health centres in need of service, the way they are treated is key. They should be treated with respect and dignity even in their weakest and most vulnerable state. 

Being a health worker is synonymous with care giving. Some of pregnant women shun health centres because they are treated with such disrespect by some health workers. There have been incidences of insults being hurled at these mothers at health facilities. This downplays the goal of encouraging patients to seek professional care at health centres. 

According to WHO, the objectives of World Patient Safety Day 2021 are to raise global awareness on the issues of maternal and newborn safety, particularly during childbirth; engage multiple stakeholders and adopt effective and innovative strategies to improve maternal and newborn safety; call for urgent and sustainable actions by all stakeholders to scale up efforts, reach the unreached and ensure safe maternal and newborn care, particularly during childbirth, and finally, advocate the adoption of best practices at the point of care to prevent avoidable risks and harm to all women and newborns during childbirth.

These are straightforward objectives, which if adopted by all stakeholders and policies for implementation instituted, we will see the number of maternal deaths and infant mortality fall.  

At the moment, the maternal mortality ratio for women aged 15-49 is 368 deaths per 100,000 live births compared to 438 deaths per 1, 000 live births in 2011, and the infant mortality rate stands at 43 deaths per 1,000 live births, down from 54 deaths per 1, 000 live births in 2011, (Uganda Demographic and Health Survey (UDHS) Report, 2016). 

And while we acknowledge that a lot has been done to bring these numbers down, we can still do more.

Hopefully, Minister Aceng’s pledge that the next five years shall witness more focus to patient safety by MoH for improved health outcomes for all health service consumers will be achieved.