Life for Mothers Announces Completion of its Pilot Project in Rural Uganda

Life For Mothers (LfM) recently completed its Pilot Project in Busujju County, Mityana, Uganda. The project involved going to 25 villages using 25 Village Health Teams (2 community health workers per team) and enrolling the household into an electronic database. In addition, information was given to the households in the following areas–HIV/AIDs, Maternal/Reproductive Health, Child Survival and Family Planning. LfM enrolled almost 6000 residents from the 25 villages as well as almost 1600 women of reproductive age. LfM also registered husbands/partners, newborns, women over 50, children over 5 and almost 1100 children under the age 5. Using mobile health technology (cell phones were loaded with questionnaires), the CHWs were trained to use the phones and upload data as soon as it was collected in the field. The data is currently being analyzed to identify the population’s need for interventions surrounding family planning, HIV testing and birth practices. From this analysis, Life for Mothers will implement strategies for the next phase of the project to increase women and children’s access to services (antenatal visits, immunizations, giving birth at the Health Center, etc) in order to demonstrate improved health outcomes. These results will be published as soon as possible. Lastly, the VHTs were given exit questionnaires to measure quantitative knowledge and understanding of their work as well as their satisfaction with the Pilot Project. We have many people to thank–most importantly, Winnie Namirembe, our Project Manager and a Peace Corp Volunteer assisting with project implementation. We look forward to sharing our findings as results become available.

Did you know?
Almost every minute, a woman dies related to complications related to pregnancy and childbirth.
Source: United Nations Department of Public Information