Gulu district is still lagging behind in post natal care response according to reports by the district health department.
Post natal care is the skilled medical and emotional support provided to a mother and her new born immediately after birth for the first six weeks.
According to William Onyai, the district health educator for Gulu district, most mothers don’t bother taking their children back for monitoring as required.
Onyai says most women think it is not important to take the children back to the facility yet after giving birth yet the child has to be attended to after six hours to ensure that it is breathing well and everything is okay.
He says the same applies the mother because her condition needs to be checked as well.
Onyai adds that also after six days both need to be checked and the baby has to be immunized after six weeks among other schedules to follow.
He adds that because women mostly don’t value this process, they have detected some conditions which have led to deaths due to a lack of proper care for the baby and mother.
Onyai blames this situation on inadequate awareness which they plan to work on as a district to ensure that everyone is fully informed.
According to the Ministry of Health data, approximately 45,000 newborns die in Uganda annually yet these deaths could be prevented through proper post natal care.
By Rebecca Ekwany
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