In a dynamic field such as healthcare, skills and any other support aimed at improving service delivery means a lot for medics, especially if working in resource limited settings such as the rural Ugandan district of Namayingo on the shores of Lake Victoria.
Without a hospital in Namayingo District, Buyinja Health Centre IV bears the brunt and is expected to meet the demands of the community amidst numerous system challenges.
However, for Buyinja and five other high-volume Health Centre IVs including Kigandalo in Mayuge District, Busesa in Bugweri District, Namwendwa in Kamuli District, Budondo in Jinja District and Bumanya in Kaliro District, there is a tide in the right direction for newborn care thanks to the MANeSCALE (Maternal and Newborn Scale Up) Project of Makerere University School of Public Health with support from the ELMA Philanthropists.
Following the recent revival or setting up of newborn care units and provision of equipment and catalytic medical products at the six facilities, MANeSCALE is now extending support supervision and mentorship to medics, according to the Project Coordinator, Dr Christine Shema.
“We anticipate that we shall mentor about 20 to 25 health workers at the end of the whole exercise. This process will happen twice a month,” says Dr Shema. “These health workers will be able to handle emergencies since they now have resuscitation equipment ready to use in the newborn units. This will eventually lead to a reduction in the number of deaths of new born babies. They will also be able to save mothers’ lives from the knowledge they got about managing the different complications.”
Flagging of the mentorship at Buyinja this week, health workers were taken through using an infant warmer, photo therapy machine and incubators. The session also saw reorganisation and cleaning of the neonatal unit and establishing a resuscitation corner. Neonatal drug dosing and dilution of drugs were tackled as well to avoid issues of drug toxicity and under dosing. Other topics addressed included managing preterm babies and managing preeclampsia and eclampsia among mothers.