This exercise took place on 02ndAug.2023 at Buseesa Medical Centre III, Midwife Namirimu Josephine who leads Buseesa Medical and communitywide malaria-in-pregnancy programme as the Ministry of Health and Sanitation is conducted. Her responsibilities include overseeing a community awareness programme that engages more than 28 community health workers (CHWs) implementing different health interventions across the country.
“Some CHWs may be working in hard-to-reach areas, behind those mountains, those rivers,” says Midwife Josephine Namirimu. Again she said that “Women don’t like to disclose their pregnancy and they’ll keep it a secret from their neighbors, friends and distant relatives, but have trust and confidence to tell a female community health worker.”
Through the programme, she again said that the trained CHWs will go door-to-door, encouraging pregnant women to attend their antenatal care appointments at the closest health Centre or coming at Buseesa Medical Centre III, where staff not only monitor the health of the mother and fetus but can also deliver the first dose of sulfadoxine-pyrimethamine, a medicine given after the first trimester to prevent malaria in pregnancy.
Under this, she encouraged all the CHWs to make follow up with subsequent doses, at least one month apart and continued promotion of antenatal care services.
She also said that Buseesa Medical Centre III is one of best Medical Centre in Kibaale district that have piloted in recent years a new community-based approach to malaria prevention during pregnancy. The projects and programmes build on WHO guidance for the prevention of malaria in pregnancy.
In her recommendation therefore she said that Antenatal care (ANC) contacts remain an important exercise for delivering IPTp. Where inequities in ANC service and reach exist, other delivery methods (such as the use of community health workers) may be explored, ensuring that ANC attendance is maintained and underlying inequities in ANC delivery are addressed.
In conclusion therefore, she said to mothers that the issue of access is key and if untreated, malaria in pregnancy can lead to maternal and neonatal death and also It can also cause anemia, stillbirth, and low birth weight, which is a major cause of infant mortality.