Prof. Peter Waiswa has called for simple, practical, and evidence-based actions to accelerate Uganda’s progress toward the 2030 Maternal and Newborn Health (MNH) targets. Speaking at the Safe Motherhood Conference 2025, the Lead of the Makerere University Centre of Excellence for Maternal, Newborn, and Child Health (MNCH) emphasized that while Uganda continues to implement various technical and sophisticated health interventions, greater attention should be given to the basics.
He urged stakeholders to prioritize simple yet high-impact measures, such as Infection Prevention and Control (IPC), which can deliver immediate and lasting improvements in maternal and newborn health outcomes, particularly through strengthened hygiene and sanitation in health facilities.
“We often chase complexity, yet the biggest gains lie in doing the basics right,” he observed.
‘’To accelerate progress, we must use the continuum of care by looking beyond just health facilities to ensure every mother and newborn receives care at every stage.
Prioritize simple things first, like Infection Prevention and Control (IPC), which can yield immediate and profound improvements in health outcomes like ensuring sanitation in health facilities’’ he stated.
In his sober presentation titled “Leveraging People, Products, and Systems to Accelerate Progress Toward Uganda’s 2030 MNH SDG Targets,” Prof. Waiswa emphasized four key areas for reflection
- Infection prevention and control (IPC) to ensure hygiene and sanitation in health facilities.
- Diagnose problems before implementing solutions to address root causes effectively.
- Use of data to inform planning and guide interventions.
- Continuity of care ensures mothers and newborns receive consistent attention from the community to the facility and back.
He concluded by sharing the Centre’s notable contributions to promoting safe motherhood, including the Saving Mothers, Giving Life (SMGL) project, which achieved a 44% reduction in maternal mortality in the study areas of Uganda. The project strengthened Basic Emergency Obstetric and Newborn Care (BEmONC) through a holistic, multi-system approach that integrated community engagement, health facility improvement, and data-driven decision-making.
