Uganda
We work with the Government of Uganda and local organizations to keep mothers and children alive and healthy.
MOMENTUM works at the national level and in eight districts throughout Uganda to help the country’s young and growing population access the health care they need to live long, productive lives. We collaborate with the Government of Uganda and local organizations to improve access to health care for Ugandan children, keep facilities clean and safe during the COVID-19 pandemic, and reduce maternal mortality by reaching mothers with reproductive health care.
Reaching Ugandan Mothers with Reproductive Health Care
Family planning contributes to reductions in maternal mortality by enabling the timing, spacing, and limiting of births. Family planning also decreases the number of high-risk births and complications during pregnancy or childbirth.1 MOMENTUM Private Healthcare Delivery works with the Uganda Private Midwives Association (UPMA), a national network of private midwives and health facilities, to increase access to high-quality family planning, including immediate postpartum family planning services and reproductive health care. MOMENTUM also works alongside UPMA to develop and implement solutions to improve its organizational governance and management capacity.
UPMA’s network includes more than 700 facilities across the country, and MOMENTUM will provide direct assistance to 40 facilities in three urban districts: Kampala, Wakiso, and Mukono. UPMA will then use the learning to build capacity across the remainder of its network.
Read our blog to learn about our work with one of these midwives, Miriam Nabatanze Bwete.
Improving Access to Lifesaving Interventions for Childhood Illness
While Uganda has made steady progress in fighting infant and child death, there are still wide disparities in child health across the country.2 MOMENTUM Country and Global Leadership is working with the Ugandan Ministry of Health to promote Integrated Community Case Management (iCCM)—a proven, equity-focused strategy for delivering key child health interventions to hard-to-reach communities. Using the Community Health Planning and Costing Tool developed by UNICEF and Management Sciences for Health, MOMENTUM Country and Global Leadership partnered with the Uganda Ministry of Health to calculate the total cost of the iCCM strategy and mapping the resource gaps. Together with the Ministry-led iCCM working group, MOMENTUM Country and Global Leadership developed an iCCM investment case for Uganda with clear financing requirements and evidence justifying the importance of continued contributions to sustaining iCCM services at scale, which is being disseminated broadly throughout the government and shared with key donors and stakeholders.
Helping Health Facilities Maintain Essential Care During COVID-19
The COVID-19 pandemic made it harder for women and children around the world to safely access the essential health care they need. To combat the spread of COVID-19 and its effect on health care in Uganda, MOMENTUM Country and Global Leadership partnered with the Uganda Protestant Medical Bureau from July 2020 to June 2022 to help public, private, and faith-based health facilities in the southwestern districts of Kabale, Kisoro, Kanungu, Rukungiri, and Kasese prevent the spread of COVID-19. We collaborated with health care facilities and districts to provide quality improvement training and coaching, promoting data use for decision-making, completing minor repairs to improve drinking water and sanitation at health facilities, and providing materials for infection prevention. MOMENTUM Country and Global Leadership also developed a guide that lists essential infection prevention and control supplies that health facilities in all service levels and contexts should include in their inventory. The guide, which is the first resource to list all essential infection prevention and control items in a format similar to the well-known WHO Model Lists of Essential Medicines, has been disseminated to districts and health care facilities for use.
Learn more about the essential supplies needed for infection prevention and control in health facilities in this list.
MOMENTUM Country and Global Leadership: Jhpiego, Save the Children, Uganda Ministry of Health, Uganda Protestant Medical Bureau
MOMENTUM Private Healthcare Delivery: Population Services International (PSI) Uganda, Uganda Private Midwives Association
Interested in partnering with us or learning more about our work in Uganda? Contact us here or check out our regional reference brief.
Learn more about USAID’s work in Uganda.
References
- Stover, John, and John Ross. 2010. “How increased contraceptive use has reduced maternal mortality.” Maternal and child health journal 14 (5): 687-695.
- United Nations Inter-agency Group for Child Mortality Estimation. Levels & Trends in Child Mortality: Report 2020, Stillbirth and Child Mortality Estimates. New York: United Nations Children’s Fund. 2020.
Last updated September 2022.