Declining maternal mortality ratio in Uganda: priority interventions to achieve the Millennium Development Goal.

PURPOSE: We conducted a survey to determine availability of emergency obstetric care (EmOC) and to provide data for advocating for improved maternal and newborn health in Uganda. METHODS: The survey, covering 54 districts and 553 health facilities, assessed availability of EmOC signal functions, documented maternal deaths and the related causes. Three levels of health facilities were covered. FINDINGS: Few health units had running water; electricity or a functional operating theater. Yet having these items had a protective effect on maternal deaths as follows: theater (OR 0.56, P<0.0001); electricity (OR 0.39, P<0.0001); laboratory (OR 0.71, P<0.0001) and staffing levels (midwives) OR 0.20, P<0.0001. The availability of midwives had the highest protective effect on maternal deaths, reducing the case fatality rate by 80%. Further, most (97.2%) health facilities expected to offer basic EmOC, were not doing so. This is the likely explanation for the high health facility-based maternal death rate of 671/100,000 live births in Uganda. CONCLUSION: Addressing health system issues, especially human resources, and increasingaccess to EmOC could reduce maternal mortality in Uganda and enable the country to achieve the Millennium Development Goal (MDG).

Emergency obstetric care as the priority intervention to reduce maternal mortality in Uganda.

PURPOSE: We conducted a survey to determine availability of emergency obstetric care (EmOC) to provide baseline data for monitoring provision of obstetric care services in Uganda. METHODS: The survey, covering 54 districts and 553 health facilities, assessed availability of EmOC signal functions. Following this, performance improvement process was implemented in 20 district hospitals to scale-up EmOC services. FINDINGS: A maternal mortality ratio (MMR) of 671/100,000 live births was recorded. Hemorrhage, 42.2%, was the leading direct cause of maternal deaths, and malaria accounted for 65.5% of the indirect causes. Among the obstetric complications, abortion accounted for 38.9% of direct and malaria 87.4% of indirect causes. Removal of retained products (OR 3.3, P<0.002), assisted vaginal delivery (OR 3.3, P<0.001) and blood transfusion (OR 13.7, P<0.001) were the missing signal functions contributing to maternal deaths. Most health facilities expected to offer basic EmOC, 349 (97.2%) were not offering them. Using the performance improvement process, availability of EmOC in the 20 hospitals improved significantly. CONCLUSION: An integrated programming approach aiming at increasing access to EmOC, malaria treatment and prevention services could reduce maternal mortality in Uganda.