About This Project

In Uganda 1 in 44 mothers dies from pregnancy-related causes (State of the World’s Mothers’ Index 2015), mainly because of complications during gestation. This project intends to study how support networks and access to quality health care affect maternal and children outcomes in Uganda. With the cooperation of Saving Mothers Giving Life, we are going to measure the outcomes on mothers and children of two factors: having access to quality health care and having a rich support network.

Ask the Scientists

What is the context of this research?

This project draws from my previous work experience in public health in Nigeria. In March 2016, the local birth register showed that 3 babies and 1 mother died out of the 7 births in a general hospital. The reason was poor access to quality maternal care. Saving Mother Giving Life intervention in Uganda helped decrease maternal mortality rate by 44%, a large improvement even with respect of their 55% target.

Social networks have the potential to play an important complementary role in helping mothers accessing health facilities. It has been reported numerous times that people that are isolated are at increased mortality risk from a number of causes (see for example http://dx.doi.org/10.1097/0000 ).

What is the significance of this project?

Maternal mortality in Uganda is extremely high. Saving Mothers Giving Life has the potential to dramatically reduce maternal and newborn mortality in sub-Saharan Africa. The presence in itself of health facilities might not be enough if women are not aware of the importance of seeking prompt medical health. This project intends to study not just the impact of SMGL, but also whether personal support networks can facilitate the spreading of awareness and the use of health facilities, with significant results on maternal and children outcomes.

What are the goals of the project?

The goal of our research is to investigate if existing support networks can enhance the impact of SMGL. Learning the complementarity/substitutability of each element in this study, would enable policy makers to design cost-effective measures to improve maternal health, with benefits for the entire household. How health information gets disseminated within the network could also help design strategies to increasing awareness about the benefits associated with access to health facilities. Community-based groups, like traditional birth attendants, can provide additional comfort (physical and emotional) for local women. Understanding the role played by husbands, relatives, friends and co-workers can also provide important insights for policy design.