Support Maternal Health in Uganda

Uganda still has one of the fastest growing populations in Sub-Saharan Africa with woman giving birth to an average of 6.7 children. 435 out of every 100,000 deliveries, end up in the death of a mother while 76 out of every 1000 children born alive die before the age of one year old and 137 out of every 1000 children die before the age of five years – 38% of these occur in the first four weeks of life and more so during the first 24 hours after birth. Only 37.5% of the deliveries in some parts of Uganda happen in hospitals.

We propose to extend the Child Healthcare Access Programme (CHAP) to cover babies six months before delivery, thus effectively providing ante-natal, delivery and post-natal care for pregnant women. This will significantly contribute to the reduction of child and maternal mortality rates in three ways:

• Safe pregnancy & delivery with subsequent reduction in maternal mortality
• Reduction in neonatal deaths thus contributing to child survival
• Promotion of family planning uptake with resultant economically manageable family sizes.

The ‘Extended CHAP’ package would include at least four ante-natal visits for each expectant mother including vitamins/iron supplements, haemoglobin estimation, and obstetric ultra sound; treatment of sexually transmitted infections during pregnancy; hospital delivery including C-section if required; review at six weeks after delivery; and care for the newborn (including those born before term).

Please contact us if you are interested in supporting this project.