WEST NILE STAKEHOLDERS CALL FOR INCREASED HEALTH INVESTMENT

Newborn receiving treatment at Arua Regional Referral Hospital Neonatal Unit / Photo: Dramadri Federick

By Dramadri Federick

Arua city

Stakeholders in the West Nile sub-region are calling for increased investment in the health sector to address continued maternal deaths, warning that the trend could undermine Uganda’s efforts to reduce preventable maternal mortality by 2030.

According to health officials, the West Nile sub-region currently records an average of nine maternal deaths every month, raising concern among leaders and other health stakeholders.

Victor Afayo, a senior gynecologist at Arua Regional Referral Hospital and coordinator of the Arua Local Maternity and Neonatal System, attributes the continued deaths to delays in referral from lower-level health facilities, as well as inadequate staffing and working conditions at health facilities.

“We are doing badly. Much as maternal deaths at lower-level health facilities are reducing, at Arua Regional Referral Hospital they are on the increase. In one month, you can find nine mothers dying, yet at the lower-level health facilities, mothers are not dying,” Dr Afayo said.

Speaking during the Youth Parliament, Yakani Isaac, a refugee leader working with ReDNET, raised concerns about what he described as negligence by some health workers at Arua Regional Referral Hospital, saying some maternal and newborn deaths could be prevented through timely and proper care.

“Three women were discharged from Arua Regional Referral Hospital after being referred from Ocea Health Centre. They stayed there for two days without an ambulance to take them back. Even the baby that was delivered remained with an intravenous (IV) cannula in the hand after the prescribed dose of medicine had been completed. Sometimes mothers are dying due to negligence, not because of a lack of space,” Yakani said.

Stakeholders say strengthening health facilities, improving referral systems, recruiting adequate numbers of health workers and ensuring timely access to emergency obstetric and newborn care will be critical to reducing preventable maternal deaths in the region.

Terego District Vice Chairperson Sunday Ayikoru is urging the government to increase the health sector wage bill to enable local governments to recruit more health workers and address persistent staffing gaps.

“Ideally, mothers should be delivered and handled by trained health workers, but you realize that most of our health facilities are understaffed. In the health sector in Terego District, the current staffing level stands at 28 percent. We need an increase in the wage bill to facilitate recruitment and improve service delivery,” Ayikoru said.

Uganda’s maternal mortality ratio was estimated at 189 deaths per 100,000 live births in the 2022 Uganda Demographic and Health Survey. Although the country has made progress in reducing maternal deaths, preventable maternal mortality remains a major public health concern.

Health officials say some districts in West Nile have recorded periods without maternal deaths, but challenges related to referral systems, staffing, emergency response and access to quality maternal health services continue to affect maternal outcomes in the region.