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Uganda: Pregnant Women to Benefit From U.S. Funds
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New Vision (Kampala)
6 January 2008
Posted to the web 7 January 2008
Irene Nabusoba
Kampala
THE New Year has already brought glad tidings for pregnant women in Uganda's southwest district of Isingiro.
They will be beneficiaries of the sh1.4b multi-year grant from the US-based GE Foundation, meant to help improve prevention and control of infections like malaria and HIV in pregnant women.
This GE Foundation is the charity wing of the General Electric Company, and the grant supports the organisation's corporate initiative of developing health globally.
It aims at improving community health and reducing infant and maternal mortality in selected regions in 10 countries in Africa.
The fund, to be channeled through JHPIEGO, a non-profit affiliate of Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, is part of a sh35.7b support from the United States Government, GE Foundation, and ExxonMobil Foundation.
"JHPIEGO has been committed to improving the health of women and children in more than 140 countries around the world for nearly 40 years.
"It's exciting to have partners such as USAID, ExxonMobil Foundation and the GE Foundation.
Their funding will help us make a substantial difference in saving the lives of these remarkable women and their families," said Dr. Leslie Mancuso, President and CEO of JHPIEGO in a press release on January 2.
In Uganda, of every 100,000 live births, 435 women die annually.
While Hemorrhage eclampsia, abortions, obstructed labour and infections are some of the direct causes, others like HIV and AIDS and Malaria still remain major challenges.
Dr. Anthony Mbonye, the commissioner reproductive health in the Ministry of Health, says, Malaria and HIV and AIDS contribute significantly to maternal mortality and morbidity.
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National statistics show that 3% of pregnant women complete Voluntary Counseling and Testing leave alone accessing Prevention of Mother-to-child transmission services.
The picture is even vaguer in rural communities like Isingiro where malaria equally remains a big problem, with few mothers accessing preventive and treatment options of these epidemics.
JHPIEGO, will help empower frontline health workers by designing and implementing simple, low-cost, hands-on solutions that strengthen the delivery of health care services, following the household to hospital continuum of care.
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