Ugandan women shunning hospitals to give birth traditionally -
Feature

Kampala - Milly Nalwadda believed that when she checked into a
hospital in Uganda instead of using a traditional birth attendant, she
was doing the best thing for her unborn child. But Milly's decision
backfired when the attending nurse accidentally killed her newborn
baby.

"Two hours after delivery, I requested to see my baby but she was dead
because the nurse had laid her face-down," the 39-year-old mother of
six said. "She apologized, but I was left in tatters."

Despite the tragedy, which came in 2005, Milly returned to a maternity
clinic when she became pregnant again, only to face abuse from nurses
who told her she was too old to have a child.

She gave up on modern medicine and turned instead to a traditional
birth attendant, who administered a course of herbs and delivered her
child safely.

Milly's case is not an isolated incident. Hundreds of thousands of
Ugandan women, distrustful of the dire healthcare system, are relying
on traditional birth attendants, leading UN officials to warn that
child mortality reduction targets are in danger.

Officials say that poor medical facilities in hospitals, badly trained
and rude medical staff, poverty and the long distances from rural
areas to medical centres are contributing to the trend.

An average of 1 million babies are born in Uganda every year, but
government and UN officials concede that while the majority of mothers
visit antenatal clinics during the first months of pregnancy, they opt
to stay away at the moment of birth.

"Antenatal care for Ugandan women is over 70 per cent, but only 40 per
cent deliver in hospitals," Deputy Health Minister Emmanuel Otala
said.

"The reasons for this are many ... there are delays in the delivery of
services, there are negative attitudes towards the patients."

A government study in 2006 found that more than 370 children under the
age of 5 die in the country per day, of which 25 per cent are under
the age of 1.

The death rates are decreasing at a rate of 1 per cent per annum, but
this is far below the target of a 13-per-cent annual reduction, the
United Nation's children's agency UNICEF says.

According to the agency, there is a direct link between the deaths and
mothers giving birth away from health centres.

"It is absolutely clear that there is a connection (between the deaths
and mothers staying away from antenatal clinics)," UNICEF's spokesman
in Kampala Hyun Chulho said.

"There is also a connection to where the child is living, household
incomes, the level of antenatal care and the educational level of the
mothers," he added.

The traditional birth attendants are seizing the opportunity left by
yawning gaps in the healthcare system and have organized themselves
into a registered association, which is busy wooing the expectant
mothers to their side.

"Pregnant mothers normally seek services from us because we have
experience in handling them," said Musanje Kyabaggu, the secretary
general of the National Traditional Healers and Herbalists
Association.

Members of Kyabaggu's group, which numbers around 60,000, charge
around 10 dollars for each expectant mother, compared to more than 50
dollars charged for the services in the established health centres.

"Expectant mothers are running away from nurses because the nurses are
young, inexperienced and abusive," Kyabaggu said.

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