Uganda: Health Ministry Mobilises Faith Leaders to Help Reduce Maternal Deaths
The Ministry of Health has called on religious and cultural leaders to use their influence in communities to encourage pregnant women to attend antenatal care and deliver at accredited health facilities as part of efforts to reduce maternal deaths in Uganda.
The call was made during an engagement between the Ministry of Health and interfaith health champions from 32 districts.
Dr Richard Mugahi, the Commissioner for Reproductive and Child Health at the Ministry of Health, said Uganda had made progress in reducing maternal deaths but urged women to seek skilled care throughout pregnancy and during childbirth.
He also called on policymakers to prioritise the construction and strengthening of Health Centre IIIs and IVs, saying the facilities were essential to bringing maternal and other health services closer to communities.
Mugahi further urged religious and cultural leaders to use their platforms to sensitise young women and girls about cervical cancer prevention, including the importance of vaccination.
The Minister for Kyabazinga Affairs, Yudaya Babirye, said teenage pregnancy, poverty and poor education outcomes remained among the major challenges affecting communities in the Busoga region.
Babirye said greater involvement of men in family and community affairs was necessary to address teenage pregnancy and domestic violence.
She said research conducted in Busoga had found that some men were increasingly withdrawing from parenting responsibilities, partly because of the weakening of traditional community structures.
According to Babirye, the Kyabazinga of Busoga has directed that sexual and reproductive health programmes should deliberately target men and encourage them to participate in family decision-making.
She said pilot programmes in some districts were already using village structures to mobilise men to support their partners to attend antenatal care and deliver at accredited health facilities.
The Deputy Mufti of the Uganda Muslim Supreme Council and Vice Chairperson of the Faith for Family Health Initiative, Sheikh Muhammad Ali Waiswa, said Uganda continued to face challenges related to maternal and teenage pregnancies.
Waiswa said government policies alone could not address the country's reproductive, maternal, newborn, child and adolescent health challenges without active participation from families and communities.
He said religious and cultural leaders were particularly influential because communities often listen to their guidance.
"Our pulpits, mosques and altars are now platforms for health. We urge all expectant mothers to attend all eight antenatal visits and deliver in accredited facilities," Waiswa said.
Waiswa said the Faith for Family Health Initiative had trained more than 1,000 interfaith religious leaders, political leaders and media champions across 32 districts.
He said religious leaders were also using family-planning seminars to promote the timing and spacing of pregnancies while addressing fears and misconceptions surrounding family planning.
The Executive Director of the Faith for Family Health Initiative, Jackie Katana, said the annual engagement provides an opportunity to assess the contribution of faith leaders towards improving sexual and reproductive health in their communities.
Katana said the programme focuses on family planning, maternal health, immunisation, sexual and gender-based violence and adolescent health. Malaria and sickle cell disease have since been added to the programme's priority areas.
She said participating leaders had made commitments to implement the programme during the next financial year.
Katana said the initiative's approach would also be benchmarked across East Africa with support from the David and Lucile Packard Foundation and other partners.
"We have trained 1,000 interfaith religious leaders as champions of health. We have influenced policies, influenced financing and strengthened multisectoral engagement," Katana said.
She said religious leaders who had previously been reluctant to openly discuss sexual and reproductive health issues were increasingly engaging communities and other stakeholders.
"Religious leaders are now here freely interacting with everyone, and that was our dream," Katana said.
The health champions said continued engagement with religious and cultural leaders could help strengthen community uptake of maternal, reproductive and adolescent health services.
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