UNFPA is sponsoring girls to study Midwifery as one of the strategies of addressing the deficit of midwives in Uganda’s health system. The idea is that, with midwives accessible to mothers in remote communities, maternal deaths will reduce due to skilled attendance during pregnancy and birth.
UNFPA’s Penninah Kyoyagala caught up with Kyalimpa Miria, Asiimwe Lucia and Atuhaire Irene, some of the girls who are benefiting from the Midwifery Scholarship Programme and are training to become midwives. She had a chat with Asiimwe Lucia.
Penninah: What inspired you to join this course?
Lucia: Because I want to become a midwife and help mothers deliver safely and also save the lives of their babies. Penninah: How do you find the course?
Lucia: I am very happy with the content of the course. I have learned so much about midwifery, and by the end of the course I will be a competent midwife.
Penninah: How will you use the skills gained during this training?
Lucia: I will show a good impression mostly during antenatal care by being polite to the mothers so that I attract them to deliver at a health centre. Currently this is a big problem in my village in Kanungu—women do not deliver in health centres. If many mothers deliver in my hands I will work tirelessly to save them and their babies. Penninah: So after the course, what are your plans, are you eager to go back home?
Lucia: I am looking forward to going back home. I have to go and serve the people back home in Kanungu.
