Saving Lives at Birth

Maternal and newborn interventions in under-resourced health centers in Moyo District, Uganda

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Partners in Community Social Action Uganda (PICSA), an NGO based out of Uganda, is committed to improving the living standards of its community through health and education projects. Promoting cervical cancer screening and prevention, reducing sexual violence, teaching about sexual reproductive health rights and improving maternal and child health have been key areas of focus in recent years.

Despite numerous efforts and an impressive reduction in maternal and infant mortality in Uganda, the national rates remains high. Specifically in the Moyo district, 43.3 out of every 1,000 children do not live to see their fifth birthday (Knoema, 2022). The majority of infant deaths occur during delivery and in the first week postpartum. These outcomes can be improved with better health worker knowledge, adequate skills and the availability of the proper equipment and supplies to care for mothers and their newborns.

PICSA’s Saving Lives at Birth project aims to decrease maternal and neonatal mortality by mobilizing and empowering health workers in underserved health clinics in Moyo district. Midwives, nurses and clinical officers will be trained on the lifesaving Helping Babies Breathe curriculum, hypothermia prevention, infection prevention, and the use of the e-partograph. Additionally, PICSA will be providing equipment and supplies such as pulse oximeters, infant warmers and Chlorhexidine gel.

Over the course of 12 months, PICSA will closely monitor the implementation of these techniques in the select health facilities. 2000 mothers and newborns are expected to be cared for during this time.

PICSA Uganda was awarded a $75,000 grant for this project, as a part of Madiro's call for proposals in 2022 and in collaboration with The Gillian and Adrian Schauer Foundation and the King Baudouin Foundation Canada.

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