Mr Urban Andersson, the Swedish Ambassador to Uganda has asked the government to invest in midwifery saying the profession is central in the fight against maternal and child mortality.
Addressing midwifes from Acholi, Lango and West Nile sub region during the closing of a two day Midwife Symposium in Gulu town on Wednesday, Ambassador Anderson explained that, “Midwives are an extra ordinary group of professionals who work day and night to save the lives of mothers and new-born but often under challenging conditions with heavy work load in poorly equipped facilities.”
Ambassador Andersson noted that to sustainably reduce maternal mortality and improve the overall life chances of poor, marginalized mothers, Uganda must as a matter of urgency address three interrelated root causes of maternal death.
The Ambassador identified them as the limited number of trained midwives, weak structures to ensure up take and retention of trained midwives and limited male involvement in maternal health.
Andersson says, “The main contributor to maternal deaths in Uganda is a lack of trained midwifes and low staff retention; especially in the hard- to- reach areas.”
According to the Swedish Ambassador, a Ugandan midwife delivers between 350 and 500 babies every year.
He also revealed that his government will train students from remote Ugandan districts in midwifery course as part of a campaign to reduce maternal mortality rate in Uganda.
Despite committing itself to cutting down maternal – infant mortality rate by three thirds by 2015 as per the Millennium Development Goal (MDG) No. 4, Uganda is still short of 3,000 midwives as recommended by the World Health Organization (WHO).
Figures from the Ministry of Health indicate that only 6,000 midwives (75%) have been licensed to practice and have been deployed across the country to save the lives of mothers and their new born.
WHO recommends that, in a year, single midwife should help 175 expectant mothers to deliver.
Ms Maria Najjemba, the (United Nations Population Fund) UNFPA Midwifery Country Advisor for Uganda noted that a Ugandan midwife is delivering around 500 babies in a year due to the staffing gap.
Najjemba also revealed that there are discussions to halt the current curriculum in order to make training become more practical than theoretical.
In Charge Maternal Neonatal Child Health for Pader district, Ms Anna Apio, says there are only 19 midwives instead of the recommended 27 in the district.
Ms Apio noted that this has affected their plan to assign some midwives to Health Center IIs where deliveries are also conducted.
She adds that, “The challenge has been due to the new training curriculum whereby comprehensive nurses are trained in midwifery, pediatrics and psychiatry making graduates half baked.
Ms Beatrice Alupo, Acting Nurse Commissioner in the Ministry of Health urged the current midwives already in service to develop their capacities in order to reduce the country.
Each year, 438 per 100,000 women die during deliveries.
Meanwhile 54 out of 100 newborns do not celebrate their first birthday.
This is according to the 2014 report on midwifery titled, ‘The State of World’s Midwifery 2014, a universal pathway, a woman’s right to health,’
The report compiled by the United Nations Population Agency (UNFPA), International Confederation of Midwives (ICM) and World Health Organisation (WHO), carried numbers that painted the picture of the state of midwifery in 73 countries, Uganda being one of them.
