Shortage of blood contributes to Maternal deaths and It is extremely difficult for women to obtain blood at some of health facilities in Uganda
Nearly all Maternal deaths in Uganda are preventable, with lack of blood, many Women get complications that require immediate medical attention and women who experience complications during pregnancy never receive the care they need
In Uganda, according to the UDHS 2016, for every 1,000 births, there are just over 3 maternal deaths. Currently, the maternal mortality ratio is 336 per 100,000 live births which is still far below the Health Sector’s development plans target of 121 deaths per 100,000 live births
The shortage of blood in health centers is believed to be one of the major factors contributing to high death rates among women and young girls giving birth
On Thursday, 6th, Oxfarm Uganda, Center for Health Human Rights and Development, the coalition to stop maternal mortality launched a new campaign in Gulu District dubbed `TimeToCare4Blood’ that is aiming at pressurizing Government to increase funding towards the health sector and blood Bank programmes
There was a public dialogue were over hundreds of Gulu residents and other delegates across the country attended and later; advocates, district officials and other stakeholders went to the streets in Gulu showing solidarity and protesting over shortage of blood in most Health facilities in Uganda
Girls who give birth early are vulnerable, there is equally lack of access to safe blood and inadequacies in the management of essential drugs such as Oxytocin that would prevent women from losing blood during childbirth and Government of Uganda should take practical steps and mobilize more public revenues to support the health sector especially the blood bank – Grace Namugambe from the Southern and Eastern Africa Trade Information and Negotiations Institute said during the launch of the campaign
During the public dialogue at Gulu District headquarters, Joseph Olwenye from Oxfam Uganda said that to reduce the inequality gap, the government needs to ensure Ugandans get good quality health care and should be accessible but most important, it should also ensure that key programmes like Blood Transfusion Services are efficient in tackling the persistently high maternal mortality due to blood shortage
So many women and girls in different health facilities die due to a lack of blood, the whole country is affected but there is a huge blood shortage facing some regional referral hospitals like Gulu, Arua and this as continued to cause deaths; in about one week 10 patients died in Arua maternity ward, therefore, we demand the Government to increase funding to Health sector and blood banks – Ms. Anna Lumbasi, the programme officer for the Centre for Health Human Rights and Development said during the public dialogue
The crisis of blood shortage is something that we can avoid. We shouldn’t wait for a crisis. Let have a more comprehensive plan for it. We can do this better team Uganda – Charles Owekmeno, National Program Coordinator at SRHR Alliance Uganda
Given these facts, Uganda needs at least 410,000 units of safe blood annually as recommended by the World Health Organisation and if you haven’t signed the petition, here is the link http://chng.it/9PBngxgF
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