Last 14th June, on the World Blood Donor Day, the Ambassador of Ireland to Uganda officially unveiled the blood collection and distribution center established at Moroto Regional Referral Hospital. This center is the first of its kind in the Sub-Region, providing access to safe blood and blood components in Karamoja and improving capacity for collection, storage and distribution.
The start-up of the center is one of the activities supported by the Embassy of Ireland – CUAMM project “Strengthening district health systems for improved access to and utilization of quality reproductive, maternal, neonatal, child and adolescent health (RMNCAH) integrated services in Karamoja”, set up in partnership with Uganda Blood Transfusion Services, Moroto Regional Referral Hospital
RMNCAH conditions account for over 60% of years of life lost in Uganda. The current maternal mortality in Uganda, 336 women for 100,000, is too far from the sustainable development goal target of 70/100,000. Hemorrhage before, during or after labour is the leading cause of maternal deaths in the Country. Therefore, availability of blood at health facilities is paramount in averting these maternal deaths including managing children and adults with severe anemia resulting from malaria and other causes. In addition, perinatal deaths have remained persistently high, particularly new-born death. New-born conditions are now the leading cause of under 5 child mortality, largely due to the absence of facilities that can provide quality new-born care. Adolescents and young women carry a disproportionately high burden of maternal morbidity and especially HIV/AIDS, in addition to school drop-out due to pregnancy or forced early marriage, disabling them from achieving their full potential. The COVID-19 pandemic has also led to increased rates of teenage pregnancy and sexual violence. Finally, delay in seeking care has further contributed to the persistent high mortality for mothers and newborns. Therefore, this project aims to address these challenges in the district health systems of Karamoja.
“The setting of the BCDC in Moroto is a major leap in the improvement of maternal and child services in Karamoja. We have been hearing harrowing stories of the difficulties health workers undergo looking for blood in critical moments, sometimes requiring a round trip of 500 Km just to get a unit of blood; stories of health workers feeling helpless when a mother is dying because there is no blood – affirms Dr. Peter Lochoro, CUAMM Country Representative in Uganda -. I want to thank whole-heartedly the Embassy of Ireland and the people of Ireland for making this possible and to the Ministry of Health, Uganda Blood Transfusion Services and district leadership for the good collaboration that contributed to the success of the project so far. We have already observed beneficial outcomes: the number of maternal deaths recorded in the region reduced to 16 in 2022, the first year of the project, compared to 28 in 2021,” he remarked.
Among key results, 204 outreaches have so far been conducted with 6,657 units of blood collected so far. These units have been distributed in the Comprehensive Emergency Obstetric Care and Neonatal Care (CEMONC) facilities in Karamoja with a balance given to Mbale Blood Bank, Soroti and BCDC for distribution to health facilities in those regions. 3 out of the 4 health center IVs have been accredited to offer blood transfusion services, as such, 90% of CEMONC sites are currently providing blood transfusion services. The 3 HC IVs have also been supplied with assorted items like HemoCue photometer machines, cool boxes, blood weighing scales and phlebotomy lights to support in blood transfusion services.
161 health workers have been trained on blood transfusion across the 10 CEMONC sites. In addition, 79 health workers were reached during the quarterly support supervisions conducted. This action has seen improvement in blood transfusion services with 2,722 blood transfusions made from September 2022 to March 2023, with 0% transfusion reactions being reported across the sites.
“Today marks a significant milestone in reducing preventable maternal deaths. Ireland is proud to have supported the establishment of this blood collection and distribution center and I wish to thank our partners, Doctors with Africa CUAMM, UBTS, the Ministry of Health, Moroto Regional Referral Hospital and the local government leadership for making this possible”, added H.E Kevin Colgan, the Ambassador of Ireland in Uganda.
Always as part of a district health strengthening model, this project is also delivering landmark actions in newborn health. The construction of a new neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) at Matany hospital is underway and the rehabilitation of a similar unit in Kaabong recently started. We wish to continue this commitment together to support the change achieved so far.
