Health ministry rolls out new maternal project

MUKONO - The Ministry of Health (MoH) in partnership with the ARJ Health Access Foundation, a non-government organisation has rolled out Combipack (IS-COM-2) to 47 Uganda Catholic Medical Bureau health facilities countrywide.

Combipack refers to the co-packaging of two medicines, which include mifepristone and misoprostol, which are used in managing common complications of incomplete pregnancy loss and death of a fetus within the womb.

Mifepristone is a progesterone blocker which stops the production of pregnancy hormones, while misoprostol is a prostaglandin that is commonly used to treat missed miscarriages.

Mifepristone and misoprostol in combination are the recommended medications used to manage intrauterine fetal demise (IUF ), a clinical term used to describe the death of a fetus in the uterus.

The sh908m ($250,000) project intends to build capacity of health workers in Catholic Church-founded health facilities on the appropriate use of this life-saving medicine in the treatment of pregnancy loss-related conditions.

The project started operating on May 1 and will end on April 30. The project is being supported by the Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO) through Catalytic Opportunity Office.

During the launch of IS-COM-2 at Colline Hotel, Mukono on Friday, May 30, 2025, Dr Abdul Kiragga the executive director of ARJ Health Access Foundation said the MoH strategic plan 2020/21-2024/25 prioritises Reproductive, Maternal, Newborn, Child and Adolescent Health (RMNCAH) interventions to move towards achieving productive healthy human capital for wealth creation.

“The inclusion of Combipacks in both the Essential Medicines and Health Supplies List (EMHSL) and the Uganda Clinical Guidelines (UCG), 2022, is an expression of the commitment by the government.

They reduce the risk of complications requiring hospitalisation, do not require specialist diagnostic or monitoring facilities, and can be administered by auxiliary nurses, midwives, associate clinicians and non-specialist doctors,” Kiragga said.

Dr. Richard Mugahi, the commissioner in charge of Reproductive and Infant Health in the Ministry of Health remarking during the launch of IS-COM-2 at Colline Hotel Mukono. (Credit: Simon Peter Tumwine)

Kiragga noted that despite the tremendous progress Uganda has made in reducing Maternal Mortality from 336 deaths per 100,000 live births in 2016, as per the Uganda Demographic Health Survey (UDHS,) to 189 deaths per 100,000 live births in 2022, the number remains a public concern.

“Uganda is unlikely to achieve the Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) target of 70 maternal deaths per 100,000 live births by 2030.  MoH therefore needs to use a multi-pronged approach to tackle the leading causes of maternal mortality, including post-partum haemorrhage (PPH), high blood pressure, pregnancy-related infections, among others,” Kiragga said.

He added that despite the inclusion of combipack on the EMHSL and the UCG, there is still limited knowledge on the combipack use among many health workers, especially in the Uganda Catholic Medical Bureau-affiliated facilities.

Dr. Richard Mugahi, the commissioner in charge of Reproductive and Infant Health in the Ministry of Health, said that the ministry is committed to ending any preventable maternal and newborn deaths.

“I recently visited Yumbe referral hospital and I realised that 3 out 6 women having incomplete abortions and the nurses were waiting for doctors but with the product like the combipack which is easy to administer, this will help improve the quality of the care the patients,” Mugahi said adding that anything that has been proven to work, the government will introduce it.

Mugahi noted that they are rolling out the combipacks, and MoH expects to have 100% coverage in the health facilities.