Successes, challenges, and innovative solutions to improve maternal health in Luuka
By Elizabeth Hentschel | As I reflect on my past month in Uganda with the Community in which Mothers and Newborns Thrive (COMONETH) Project team in Luuka District of Eastern Uganda, I am overwhelmed by how much I have gained from my internship. I’ve seen firsthand how VHTs (also known as community health workers), provided […]
Verbal and Social Autopsies: Implications on the future of maternal and newborn health in Uganda’s Luuka District
By Elizabeth Hentschel I am currently interning at the Community in Which Mothers and Newborns Thrive (COMONETH) through Makerere’s Centre for Excellence in Maternal Newborn and Child Health. The COMONETH Project is based in the rural district of Luuka and is composed of three main components- the facility, community, and monitoring and evaluation components. Based […]
Kyogero and newborn care in Central Uganda: friend or foe?
By David Mukunya | Kyogero is a popular herbal mixture commonly used in central Uganda used to bath newborns. It is composed of various herbs that are believed to; smoothen the baby’s skin, give blessings to the newborn, immunize the baby against both physical and spiritual diseases, and to improve the child’s intellect. It is […]
Community scorecards bring issues of women with disabilities to the agenda in rural Ugandan district
Kakaire Ayub Kirunda | They struggle to be accepted by both their families and the community. They have challenges getting transport to health facilities. And even when they get to health facilities, they face infrastructural challenges ranging from unfriendly seats, beds to washrooms. We are talking about women with walking disabilities (WWD) in the eastern […]
Hospital networking, integration of maternal with newborn care boost survival of preterm babies
By Kakaire Ayub Kirunda | AS we commemorated yet another World Prematurity Day on November 17th 620 babies were born prematurely (before 37 completed weeks of gestation) in Uganda by the end of the day. With this happening every single day, up to 226,300 preterm births are registered annually in the country. Globally, preterm birth […]
My reflections on the COMONETH Project’s influence on safe family care practices in rural Uganda
By Cephas Mugerwa | I have recently completed a ten-weeks field study internship with Community in which Mothers and Newborns thrive (COMONETH). The project operates in rural Luuka District, about 150kms from Kampala, in Eastern Uganda. When I reported for my field study, COMONETH was about to start its Village Health Teams (VHTs) training sessions. […]
Teenage pregnancy; my 2 cents on dealing with rouge parents, police officers
By Kakaire Ayub Kirunda The sight of expectant teenagers in the Eastern Uganda district of Kibuku can easily help one make sense of the country’s challenge of teenage pregnancy currently standing at 25%. Statistics from the District Health Office show that 30% of girls between 15 and 19 years have begun child bearing. Seeing these […]
“Baby Miracle”: Improved Quality of Care at Facilities Is Saving Newborn Lives
“I don’t remember the number of times we said goodbye to our baby,” says Fredrick Gume, as his wife, Margaret, nods in agreement. The two are recounting how their daughter “Baby Miracle” defied death while undergoing intensive treatment in neonatal care units at Kiboga Hospital and later at the Hoima Regional Referral Hospital (RRH). At […]