Improving maternal health in Uganda

Improving maternal health in Uganda

The University is leading a volunteer scheme to improve maternal and new-born health care in Uganda.

This project aims to recruit and deploy volunteers to work in partnership with Ugandan professionals, to reduce maternal and infant mortality in line with United Nations’ Millennium Development Goals.

The project is lead by Professor Louise Ackers from the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences. As co-ordinator of the Ugandan Maternal and Newborn Hub, she has been awarded £.5million from the Tropical Health Education Trust (THET) to develop the ’Sustainable Volunteering Project’.

Professor Ackers said: "This exciting new programme is aimed at increasing the impact of development aid and volunteering and moving away from the kinds of aid that compound dependency (’Dead Aid’) to a new and more collaborative approach based on the mutual exchange of knowledge and experience.

"It provides unique opportunities for British Professional Volunteers, from a range of disciplines to exchange knowledge and expertise with their Ugandan peers, and above all improve maternal and newborn health in Uganda.

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Reducing infant mortality

"This project also benefits the volunteers as they return from their placements with increased knowledge, better leadership skills and an improved ability to deal with complex situations under pressure.  We are looking to recruit a range of professionals, including social scientists, bio-medical engineers, midwives, nurses and obstetricians and urge anybody who is interested to me."

Andrew Mitchell, the International Development Secretary, said:  "British nurses, midwives and medical teams are among the best in the world.  The Health Partnership Scheme allows us to harness their expertise to help give developing countries the skills needed to improve the health of some of the world’s poorest people."

"It is an absolute scandal that one thousand women die every day in pregnancy or childbirth and tackling the tragic scale of maternal and child deaths is a key priority for the British Government."
 
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