The report titled, the unfinished business, the pursuits of rights and choices for all, indicates that maternal death fell from 438 women per 100,000 live births in 2011 to 336 women per 100,000 live births in 2016 while infant mortality dropped from 81 children per 100,000 live births in 1995 to 43 children per 100,000 live births in 2016.
Government has been urged to undertake more deliberate actions
towards sustaining momentum for achieving zero teenage pregnancy and zero
maternal and infant mortality by 2030.
The call is contained in the 2019 report by the United Nations Population
Fund on the state of the World Population released in Kampala on Thursday.
The report says while significant milestones have been achieved in
eliminating barriers to maternal health, increasing access to modern family
planning services as well as eliminating gender inequality, fundamental
underlying challenges still persist in the commitment.
The barriers include negative attitudes towards the use of modern family
planning services, limited resources for mainstreaming gender issues into social
services and gender inequality amongst others.
Alain Sibenaler, the Country Representative of the United Nations
Population Fund says unless addressed, the persisting challenges threaten the
country’s commitment to achieving the commitment it made at the International
Convention on Population and Development in Cario, Egypt in 1994.
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The report titled, the unfinished business, the pursuits of rights and choices
for all, indicates that maternal death fell from 438 women per 100,000 live
births in 2011 to 336 women per 100,000 live births in 2016 while infant
mortality dropped from 81 children per 100,000 live births in 1995 to 43
children per 100,000 live births in 2016.
It also shows that fertility among women has dropped from 6.7 in
1995 to 5.4 in 2016.
Sibenaler says despite these gains, latest findings indicates that teenage
pregnancy stands at 25 percent while 45 percent of women having access to
modern contraceptives discontinue the services.
At the Convention, 197 countries committed to among others
increase access to modern methods of family planning services, reduce high
fertility rates among women, eliminate sexual and gender-based violence and
address teenage pregnancies. Apparently, most of the countries are working
towards achieving 70 maternal deaths per 100,000 live births by 2030.
The others are eliminating Female Gender mutilations and Child
marriage as well as empowering women to make informed choices on whether to use
family planning services, when to get married and how many children to have.
Dr Olive Sentumbwe, the World Health Organisation-WHO Focal Point person in
Uganda says while women have increased access to modern, family planning
services today, the number of those dying during childbirth remains
significantly high. She says government must do more to reduce the figure.
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Rev. Moses Ssemugooma, a Family Planning Champion from the diocese
of Mityana says sustaining the momentum will take different sectors working in
harmony.
David Bahati, the State Minister for Finance and Planning officiated over the
launch of the report. He said the lives of women are far better today compared
to 1994.
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According to the report, 16
women still die giving birth in Uganda every day with more than 850,000
unplanned pregnancies. It recommends the mainstreaming of maternal health
issues in the local and central government planning agenda for adequate
resources allocation.
The others are attracting women hesitant to use modern family
planning services into services as well as adjustment in cultural values
hindering healthy sexual and reproductive choices.
