Annual report of the Medical Department / Uganda Protectorate.

  • Uganda Protectorate. Medical Department.
Date:
[1948]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Annual report of the Medical Department / Uganda Protectorate. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    13/74 (page 7)
    illustration of this is afforded by a comparison of maternity institutional records for 1938 with those for 1948. In 1938 37*5 % of all women in the Protectorate who became pregnant attended a Government or a Mission centre for ante-natal care; in 1948 this percentage had increased to 71'7 (the number of expectant mothers attending Government institutions increased more than three-fold). In 1938, 6 1% of all live births in the Protectorate took place in Government or Mission institutions; in 1948 the percentage was 14 6. In Buganda Kingdom alone, 38'5% of all women who gave birth to a live child in 1948 were delivered in an institution while the corresponding figures for the Eastern Province were 15 8, the Western Province 71 and the Northern Province 2 0. Associated with the expansion of maternity services during recent years has been a progressive decline in the recorded maternal mortality rate, from 10 64 per thousand births in 1938 to 4'74 in 1948. This decline has been very steady throughout the decennial period and cannot in consequence be attributed to errors of registration. Whilst this notable decline may be partly the result of a general rise in social and economic standards it is difficult to avoid the conclusion that the expansion of and growing public confidence in the maternity services provided by the Government and the Missions have been mainly responsible. The foundations of an efficient maternity service are efficient ante- and post-natal care whereby abnormalities may be detected and dealt with before emergencies arise and expectant mothers may be taught the elements maternal hygiene. This aspect of maternity work offers abundant scope for development and is likely to be reflected in further reductions in the maternal mortality rate. It may necessitate some re-orientation of the relative emphasis to be placed on ante- and post-natal care on the one hand and on institutional provision for normal confinements on the other, and in the training of midwives, greater attention will have to be given not only to the medical, but to the educational aspects or ante-natal and post-natal care. Little real progress has yet been made in promoting the popularity of child welfare clinics except in the immediate post-natal phase. It is only the more advanced members of the community who appreciate the need to attend clinics with their infants for regular medical supervision and health advice; the great majority do not attend unless the child is actually ill. 12. Medical Education The expansion of the medical and health services depends upon an increasing output of trained Africans and the training of subordinate African staff at the four Training Centres, viz. Masaka, Mulago, Mbale and Lira, has become one of the most important functions of the Depart¬ ment. The training of midwives is still undertaken exclusively by the Church Missionary Society and the Franciscan Sisters at Mengo and Nsambya Hospitals respectively. For this work the Missions receive block grants from Government. In addition they also receive capitation