A New Referral System Connects More Women and Girls in Eastern Uganda to Family Planning

By Irene Mirembe, Knowledge management manager, IntraHealth International ; Christine Lodungokol, Family health technical officer ; Jessica Naluyima, Monitoring evaluation& learning officer A client talks to a health worker at Nakaloke Health Center III in Mbale, Uganda. Photo by Esther Ruth Mbabazi for IntraHealth International.January 24, 2022In Uganda, the total fertility, maternal mortality, and teenage pregnancy rates remain among the highest in the world. UNICEF reports that18 mothers die every day in pregnancy or during and after childbirth in the country.That’s why Uganda is renewing its commitment to scale up the use of modern family planning methods and make sure every Ugandan woman can choose when and how many children to have.As part of this commitment, the Government of Uganda and its partners are expanding family planning services and providing more long-acting, reversible, and permanent methods in the region to reduce the unmet need for family planning to 10% and increase the modern contraceptive prevalence rate to 50%. Increasing this rate is vital to preventing maternal and childhood morbidity and mortality.Eastern Uganda, in particular, still struggles with a high unmet need for family planning. Rumors, misconceptions, fears about family planning services, and some cultural and religious beliefs prevent many people from using contraception. This is worsened because some health workers can’t provide family planning services for women...
Source: IntraHealth International - Category: International Medicine & Public Health Authors: Tags: Family Planning & Reproductive Health Community Engagement Source Type: news