Agency
An analysis by Makerere University School of Public Health has found that less than 50% of health workers in government run health facilities can properly resuscitate newly born babies when they experience breathing challenges.
Dr Anne Akullo a paediatrician and President of the Uganda Pediatric Association (UPA) told journalists on Thursday that in this analysis they found that at the regional referral hospitals, only 48% of the health workers could ably resuscitate newborn babies well and the percentage was much smaller in lower health facilities.
For instance, at Health Center IIIs where the majority of the deliveries in the country are happening according to Ministry of Health data, only 11% of the health workers could do this.
Paediatricians say this is a concern as birth asphyxia, a condition in which a baby does not receive enough oxygen before, during, or directly after birth is the leading cause of death among newborn babies in the country now.
Akullo says when they went ahead to check on the status of children’s intensive care units also called Neonatal Units (NICU), many of them had gaps lacking key infrastructure and some facilities were overcrowded.
According to Prof Joy Lawn, a Neonatologist and Researcher at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine having such gaps is the reason why Uganda is failing to control the high rates of pre-term baby deaths and yet the causes are known.