As a commitment to ensuring rights and choices for all, the United Nations Population Fund is dedicated to warranting that the reproductive health needs of women are not overlooked under any circumstances, even during humanitarian crisis.
To safeguard the dignity of all and realize the promise to leave no one behind, UNFPA Uganda ensures the availability and access to lifesaving reproductive health supplies and commodities for those who need them.
In this regard, on February 11, UNFPA donated an assortment of reproductive health commodities and supplies worth over US $ 4m to the government of Uganda to improve maternal, newborn, and adolescent health in humanitarian settings.
UNFPA Representative Mr. Alain Sibenaler handed over the items to the State Minister for Primary Health Care, Ministry of Health Hon. Joyce Moriku Kaducu during a brief ceremony at the Joint Medical Stores in Kampala.
Among the items are labour and delivery beds, Emergency Reproductive Health kits, contraceptives, and blood bank refrigerators for health center IVs in the districts of Moyo, Arua, Adjumani and Kikuube. The UN Central Emergency Fud (CERF) supported the Emergency Reproductive Health kits and blood bank refrigerators, while the labour and delivery beds were funded by UNFPA.
Hon. Kaducu thanked UNFPA for the generous support that focuses on ensuring all pregnancies are wanted and every childbirth is safe. She said that the equipment and commodities would go a long way in terms of improving service delivery with a focus on emergency reproductive health care services:
“Today we have seen that almost all the commodities we have received is targeting the mother, child and the newborn. I really think this is in the right direction because as government of Uganda, our key priority in the health sector is to improve maternal, newborn and child health.
“By targeting the mother, we are preventing maternal death and unavoidable death. We want to see our mothers healthy,” Hon. Kaducu said.
Hon. Kaducu also appreciated UNFPA for investing in the blood bank refrigerators as bleeding after delivery is one of the causes of maternal mortality.
In his remarks, UNFPA Representative Mr. Alain Sibenaler said hand-over of the equipment is a significant action and a demonstration of UNFPA’s commitment towards saving lives of mothers and babies and expanding the range of contraceptives. An estimate of 7,752 women in the four settlements will benefit from the commodities in the next 12 months, ensuring their right to maternal health and right to family planning.
“Today as UNFPA officially hands over the items to the Ministry of Health, I feel very inspired and well assured that it is the right investment for women, girls and men of this country,” Mr Sibenaler said.
“Every action, big or small, taken to promote access to reproductive and maternal health is of utmost value as long as it is done right! Our hope is that we also reach the hardest to reach, like those who are in situations of a humanitarian nature where we are providing emergency reproductive health kits,” he added.
He appealed to those responsible to ensure that the items being handed over be put to good use for the benefit of the intended beneficiaries as a way of giving accountability to the people they serve, as well as the donors.
Present at the handover ceremony were the Executive Director of Joint Medical Stores, Dr. Bildard Baguma, representatives from the Ministry of Health and Uganda Blood Transfusion Services.
Since 2013, UNFPA has been working closely with the Government of Uganda, sister United Nations agencies, non-governmental organizations, community-based organizations and other partners to ensure that sexual and reproductive health is integrated into emergency programming.
With generous support from the Government of Denmark, The Netherlands, DFID, SIDA, UNFPA Core resources, UN Central Emergency Fund (CERF) and EU Spotlight, UNFPA’s programming focuses on delivering an integrated package of rights approach to ensure zero maternal deaths, zero unmet need for family planning and zero tolerance for gender based violence and other harmful practices.
Written by Evelyn Matsamura Kiapi
