USAID Funded Maternity Ward to Fight Mother-Child HIV/AIDs Transmissions at Mbale Police Health Centre
From feeding to housing and medical care, police officers in Uganda are among the most disadvantaged groups. It even gets worse in rural-based police station.
However, there is an ignited hope to the Police officers wives and neighbors after the construction of a fully furnished maternity ward and the Mbale police health centre III.
With funds from USAID, the facility covered over 500 million Uganda shillings and was constructed by World Vision Uganda in partnership with Health Initiatives in the Workplaces Activity (HIWA).
New mothers and fathers attend the commissioning of the Mbale Police health centre III maternity ward: COURTESY PHOTO
The major goal of the initiative is to reduce on the number of children who contract HIV/AIDS from their mothers during birth.
It is endowed with modern beds, waiting room, labour ward, examination and consultation rooms, and has an incinerator to burn general health centre waste.
The facility has been officially opened by the Uganda Police Force medical team, donors and Mbale District local government and handed over to the public.
Speaking to Daily Monitor, one of the residents Esther Akino said the ward is a life saver since their community lacked a maternity ward and pregnant mothers had to walk miles to go for antenatal and delivery.
“This health centre has been without a maternity ward for many years yet it serves a big population of police officers in this barracks and residents from neighbouring communities,” Ms Ester Akino, a resident said.A UNICEF Uganda report, with estimates from UNAIDS shows that there has been a significant drop in new mother-to-child HIV infections, from 8.7 per cent in September 2012 to 7.9 per cent in 2017.
