By Leonard Kamugisha Akida,
MUKONO
In a country where the joy of motherhood is always tinged with fear and uncertainty, the media and journalists have been challenged to play a more active role in highlighting the critical issues surrounding maternal and child health in Uganda.
Globally, a woman dies of pregnancy related causes every two minutes. This transits to 287,000 mothers and four million children in the world who die die to preventable complications of pregnancy and childbirth. 95 percent of these death occur in developing countries with nearly 800 pregnant women dying everyday. Africa accounts for 64 percent of global maternal deaths and the East African region where Uganda belong reports extremely high maternal death for instance, in Uganda it is estimated that 12 women die in labor every day.
Harnessing the power of the press to drive change, health experts say journalists and other key players in the media should use their platforms to influence change in public health.
Dr. Mushin Nsubuga, an Obstetrician and Gynaecologist also Executive Director of Save The Mothers, a multidisciplinary organization that advocates for safe motherhood and health child-birth says that journalists play a crucial role in development through setting agenda, and shaping public opinion. He appeals to journalists to use their Media spaces to tell stories which advocate for critical issues such as maternal and child health in Uganda.
“Let me tell you this, the community only has you, it’s only us . So it’s important that we influence change in our community because the community only has you and no one else,” said Dr. Nsubuga, Executive Director Save The Mothers.
According to Nsubuga, the causes of maternal deaths in Uganda using the three Delays Module including delay in decision making to seek care due to lack of information on maternal and child health such as poor understanding of complications and risk factors in pregnancy and when to seek medical help, delay in reaching to healthcare facilities due to poor infrastructure and walking long distances to access medical centers , and delay in receiving adequate healthcare due to poor facilities and lack of medical supplies among other risk factors.
Nsubuga was speaking at a training of journalists from different media houses , under their umbrella Uganda Journalists Association (UJA) on safe motherhood and child health organized by Save The Mothers at Uganda Christian University (UCU) Mukono on Wednesday.
During the training, journalists were introduced to the UCU’s Masters of Public Health Leadership (MPHL) academic programme which seek to equip learners with knowledge about public health particularly on safe motherhood and child health one way to reducing maternal and child mortality rate. Started in 2005, the hybrid two year programme is according to the university management, open to multidisciplinary professionals from across the world.
“These working professionals learn why mothers in their country are dying, how they can make a difference and champion change in their communities,” said Agutu Teopista, Communication and Public Health Specialist at UCU.
