Support medical efforts against maternal deaths

Authorities at Kawempe National Referral Hospital have resolved to not just release bodies of mothers who die while giving birth for burial but also follow up every one of them to ascertain the cause in a hike in maternal deaths.

The hospital this week revealed that unwanted pregnancies triggered by the Covid-19 pandemic and its related drawbacks have increased its caseload of pregnancy-related complications. 

It is highly commendable that the authorities have taken such a proactive approach by focusing on the mothers who are referred to Kawempe and move to gain significant information that they can take back to the communities and lower health facilities.

This is an approach that the Health ministry and all other stakeholders in the sector can consider formulating at the national level to help Uganda’s fight to meet the UN Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) Three on maternal deaths by 2030.

The world has pledged to reduce the global maternal mortality ratio to less than 70 per 100,000 live births in the next eight years, ensure universal access to sexual and reproductive healthcare services, including for family planning, information and education, and the integration of reproductive health into national strategies and programmes.

As of December last year, demographic surveys showed that maternal mortality ratio in Uganda is 336 maternal deaths per 100,000 live births. 

Uganda was among the sub-Saharan African countries that missed their maternal mortality ratio targets for Millennium Development Goal Five. 

Health officials at some facilities such as Kyengera Health Centre III have reported of receiving up to 650 cases of mothers with complicated pregnancies per week.  Whether exaggerated or not, this should point at a crisis that must be addressed fast for the country to get its curve on SDG3 striking the upward codes.

Although the Covid-19 pandemic made it extremely difficult to effectively deliver childbirth across the health spectrum, this ray of hope from Kawempe and other referral hospitals in the country should set the sector on the right footing. 

Maternal health practitioners have always known what kills during delivery and while focus has been centred on emergency obstetric care, efforts to involve the lower health facilities by strengthening the component of maternal death surveillance and response should greatly help in untying the many loose ends.But health practitioners making such concerted efforts cannot go it all by themselves. 

The government should make this a national priority and support the cause to end maternal deaths in the country.