GULU-At least 736 newborn babies have reportedly died in Acholi in the last 10 months as the region battles malaria and low attendance for antenatal care.
This is according to the data collected from the different health facilities across the region by the Rites North Acholi, the health development partner in the region from October 2021 to the second week of August 2022.
The report indicates that 346 were fresh still deaths while 392 others were incidences of perinatal deaths due to poor turn-up of mothers for antenatal care and other sexually transmitted diseases.
The World Health Organization [WHO] refers to perinatal mortality as the number of stillbirths and deaths in the first week of life per every 1,000 total births.
The 2021 health rector performance of antennal care in the region ranges from 41 percent to 72 percent of the fourth visits while first visits remained low at 27 percent and slightly 30 percent respectively.
The districts with poor antenatal attendance include Nwoya with 41 percent, Amuru and Omoro with 51 percent, Agago 54 percent, Kitgum 56 percent, Pader 61 percent, Gulu 62 percent, and Lamwo with the highest attendance at 72 percent.
The Chief of Party in the USAID Project Implementation in Uganda Benjamin Binagwa noted that the high infant mortality in the region is a great concern that needs urgent attention.
He revealed that the US Government through USAID project has given a grant of US$ 38 million under the US Presidential Malaria Initiative to curtail the epidemic in the Northern and Bugisu Region.
The support is meant for the distribution of mosquito-treated nets to all pregnant mothers and children of 12 years and below in an implementing period of five years which will commence soon.
At St. Mary’s Hospital Lacor, malaria contributes to more than 50 percent of infant mortality, the highest factor of deaths of children in the region.
The Hospital Medical Director Dr. Emintone Odongo noted with concern that most of the deaths were due to late referrals and poor antenatal health care-seeking behaviors by the mothers.
Meanwhile, there has also been an increasing number of malaria cases in the region in the last 10 months with Lamwo district greatly affected with 60,224 cases registered followed by Agago 55841.
Omoro district registered 47,039 cases, Pader 52,232, Amuru 46,139, Kitgum district 44,219, Gulu district 31,651, Nwoya district 30,929, and Gulu city recorded the least cases with 25,625 patients.
Malaria has remained the highest health care burden in the Sub Region with a total of 394,217 patients diagnosed with the infections with the prevalence standing at 12 percent second to West Nile at 22 percent.
https://thecooperator.news/malaria-cases-soar-in-bukedi-as-residents-misuse-mosquito-nets/
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