Improving maternal and infant health services in Napak District (Karamoja, Uganda)
Local partner: Matany Hospital
September 2021 - September 2024
Direct beneficiaries: 25,610
Karamoja is the poorest and least developed region in Uganda, with a poverty rate of 60%.
Maternal mortality rate in Karamoja is 588 per 100,000 live births (this rate in Luxembourg is 5 per 100,000), and infant mortality rate is 102 per 1,000 live births (1.9 per 1,000 in Luxembourg).
Needs assessment
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Poor Access to Maternal and Child Health Services
In Karamoja, many mothers and children don’t have access to much needed services like prenatal screening, delivery services and childhood immunisations.
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Gender inequality
Women in Karamoja represent a very marginalised group. Professional training is one of the required strategies to empower local women.
Our strategy
The project is based on three strategies:
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An improved access to maternal and infant health services in the District through free ambulance service and mobile clinics
Matany Hospital organises mobile clinics to make outreach visits to remote villages in Napak District.
The mobile clinics, composed of midwife, health educator, nurse, vaccinator, ophthalmic assistant, records officer and driver, carry out the following activities:
a. Health education;
b. Antenatal care and deliveries;
c. Vaccinations, nutritional assessments and micronutrients supplementation for infants and children;d. Deworming, treatment of common illnesses and referral of critically ill patients.
Matany Hospital is also responding to maternal and neonatal ambulance calls. A driver and a midwife and, if necessary, a doctor staff the ambulance call. Maternity staff are informed to be ready to receive the referred emergency and, if necessary, alert the operating theatre team.
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Obstetric emergency services and maternity ward at Matany Hospital benefit from improved access and guaranteed 24 hours electricity coverage
Referrals made through the mobile clinics, and the additional mothers served by the ambulance service, do increase emergency obstetric interventions at Matany Hospital. Therefore, we also support its maternity ward in providing quality emergency obstetric interventions.
We also ensure continued electricity coverage at the Maternity Ward through a solar sytem back-up.
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An increase in the number of professionally trained nurses and midwives in the District
The hospital's School of Nursing and Midwifery provides the only professional training opportunity in the medical field for young women in Karamoja and the surrounding rural districts. The students follow a 2 ½ year course leading to a certified nursing or midwifery degree.
With our project, we offer this complete training for free to 20 local girls from poor families.
This project contributes to the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals:
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Goal 3: « Ensure healthy lives and promote well-being for all at all ages».
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Target 3.1: «By 2030, reduce the global maternal mortality ratio to less than 70 per 100,000 live births».
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Target 3.2: «By 2030, end preventable deaths of newborns and children under 5 years of age, with all countries aiming to reduce neonatal mortality to at least as low as 12 per 1,000 live births and under-5 mortality to at least as low as 25 per 1,000 live births».
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Target 3.8: «Achieve universal health coverage, including financial risk protection, access to quality essential health-care services and access to safe, effective, quality and affordable essential medicines and vaccines for all».
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Target 3.c: «Substantially increase health financing and the recruitment, development, training and retention of the health workforce in developing countries, especially in least developed countries and small island developing States».
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Goal 4: “Ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all”.
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Target 4.3: “By 2030, ensure equal access for all women and men to affordable and quality technical, vocational and tertiary education, including university.”
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Goal 5: “Achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls”.
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Target 5.6: “Ensure universal access to sexual and reproductive health and reproductive rights”.
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Appeal to donors
Dear friends, we need your help to finance this project.
Please make a donation to our bank account mentioning “Help for Uganda”:
A/C Name North-South Cooperation
A/C Number LU98 0019 3555 9664 7000
BIC BCEELULL
On behalf of Matany Hospital and its beneficiaries,
Thank You!
The Project Team:
Br. Günther (CEO and Administrative Director, Matany Hospital); Dr. Deus Kateregga (Medical Director, Matany Hospital); Sr. Esther Aliat (Public Health Midwife and local project coordinator, Matany Hospital); Josiane (Project Manager in Luxembourg / North-South Cooperation); Roberto (Projects Coordinator in Luxembourg / North-South Cooperation)
This is a project co-financed by the Luxembourg Ministry of Foreign and European Affairs / Directorate of development cooperation, Fondation NIF, Rotary Club Esch-sur-Alzette, Ville de Luxembourg, Diddeleng Hëlleft and ESM Making a Difference asbl.
Impressions from our field visits in Karamoja:
