Zombo, Uganda: The Zombo District Health Office, working in partnership with the Alur Kingdom, has launched a community sensitisation and dialogue campaign aimed at increasing uptake of facility-based maternal and newborn health services across the district.
District Health Officer Dr Mark Bramali revealed that an estimated 40% of deliveries in Zombo still occur at home under unskilled birth attendants, exposing mothers and newborns to preventable risks, including postpartum haemorrhage, sepsis, obstructed labour and neonatal deaths.
“Home deliveries without skilled birth attendants remain a leading preventable cause of maternal and perinatal deaths in the district,” Dr Bramali told the Alur Prime Minister (Jadipu) during a high-level consultative engagement.
He urged the Kingdom leadership to leverage its deep-rooted cultural authority and grassroots structures to mobilise couples of reproductive age to utilise antenatal care, skilled birth attendance and postnatal services available at government facilities.
The community dialogues, launched at Warr Health Centre IV, are already targeting high-burden chiefdoms, including Juloka Jupa Jalubinyu, Pakwala Jupa Jalukongo, Omua Jupa Kago and Jupa Thoi village in Warr Town Council.
During the discussions, participants proposed imposing traditional fines on couples who choose home delivery. While district leaders and the Prime Minister acknowledged the deterrent value, they stressed that any penalties must follow a lawful process through a District Council bylaw and subsequent gazettement.
In one recent case, Rwoth Jalubinyu collected a goat as a fine from a couple who delivered at home, but he was instructed to halt the practice until a formal legal framework is approved.
The initiative aligns with the Ministry of Health’s 2023–2025 strategic plan prioritising community mobilisation, emergency obstetric and newborn care, and stronger referral systems to lower maternal and perinatal deaths by 30%.
According to the 2022 Uganda Demographic and Health Survey, home deliveries remain a significant contributor to Uganda’s maternal mortality ratio, estimated at 336 deaths per 100,000 live births between 2017 and 2022.
Zombo health authorities emphasise that timely access to emergency obstetric care can prevent nearly all deaths linked to haemorrhage, hypertensive disorders, sepsis and complications from unsafe abortion.
The joint programme will run through expanded community barazas, radio talk shows and intensified VHT mobilisation to drive uptake of the full MNCH service package.
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