Sixteen Ugandan women now die in childbirth. Everyday. That’s more than 6,000 a year.
Does anyone notice? As Charles Ziarema, Acting Population Secretariat Director, put it, “People make more noise when a taxi kills an expectant mother than if she dies while delivering.”

Congratulations to UCU’s Save the Mothers programme for helping make some noise. The latest evidence is in the International Parliamentarian Conference on Maternal and Newborn Health, a regional gathering now in Kampala Nov. 23 to 25.
Among its chief organizers is UCU’s very own Sylvia Ssinabulya, an MP from Mityana and a graduate of UCU’s STM programme. For the first time, President Yoweri Museveni, who actually supports a large population, will take part in this type of event.
Ssinabulya notes that family planning in itself would reduce 35 per cent of Ugandan maternal deaths and 10 per cent of newborn deaths.We wish all MPs would be as helpful.
At this time, just 24 per cent of married women in Uganda use birth control, half the rate of Kenya and a third of the global rate.
It’s clear Uganadan women need more access to safe birth control so families can space fewer children with stronger futures.
Attitudes have to change. Tomorrow starts with you. Demand better.