A journey unfinished: A reflection on maternal health in Uganda

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OPINION

By Herbert Mugumya

As I sat in the meeting hall at a hotel in Nebbi District, surrounded by local government officials, fellow health experts, and development aid workers, I could feel the weight of the conversation shifting.

We were there to discuss the roll-out of the PROTECT SRHR project—our collective effort to improve sexual reproductive health services across six West Nile Districts. Yet, for a moment, the policy discussions, budget allocations, and project frameworks faded into the background.

A Nebbi District Health Official had just shared a story — one that cut through the formality of our meeting with the raw force of reality. He said: “A young woman traveled all the way from Kiryandongo District to Nebbi [nearly 200km], full of hope to find the treatment she believed would deliver her baby safely. But in the end, we lost her. Now her child, less than a month old, is without a mother”.

The room fell silent.

Her story is not an isolated case. It is a painful reflection of the maternal health crisis gripping Uganda, with approximately 189 women dying per 100,000 live births due to pregnancy-related causes (UDHS 2022).

Too many women embark on long, desperate journeys in search of medical care, only to find health facilities stretched beyond capacity—understaffed maternity wards, shortages of essential medical supplies, and infrastructure that buckles under demand. These challenges are not new to us, yet each maternal death reminds us of how far we still have to go.

The Health Official’s voice carried the frustration we all felt. “Our hospitals are overwhelmed. We need more trained health workers, stronger community health systems, and better infrastructure to stop this from happening over and over again.” He shared.

That is precisely what the PROTECT SRHR project seeks to address. With the financial support of the Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, we are working to close these gaps by strengthening community health structures, expanding access to family planning and ensuring that women, youth and adolescents in Pakwach, Maracha, Koboko, Terego, Yumbe, and Nebbi receive the support they need at every stage of their sexual and reproductive health, be it during pregnancy, at childbirth or the different stages of their development.

Kinawa Modest, the Project Coordinator, PROTECT SRHR offers more insights into the project during an inception meeting in Nebbi District. (Courtesy)

But for the woman who made that journey and never returned, our efforts will come too late.

Her story lingers—a stark reminder that behind every policy, every program, and every funding decision, there are real lives at stake. And even as we sat in that meeting, somewhere out there, another woman was embarking on a similar journey, hoping that this time her story would end differently.

Nebbi District stakeholders at the Launch of the PROTECT SRHR Project. (Courtesy)

That's why we do what we do. Because no woman should lose her life while bringing another life into this world.

Author: Herbert Mugumya, the Team Lead, PROTECT-SRHR project at the International Rescue Committee (IRC).

This article was first published in the New Vision print edition of April 2, 2025, on Page 15.