What the evidence shows
Key neonatal-care findings, organised by theme. Open each theme to read the detail.
Source: Situation Analysis Report 2023 Findings
A downloadable version of the findings will be added here once the report file is available.
Uganda’s neonatal mortality rate is stated as 22 deaths per 1,000 live births, described as unacceptably high. DHIS2 data shows increasing cases of deaths due to asphyxia and prematurity-related complications over the past five years.
High institutional delivery rates (90%) have not translated into commensurate reductions in preventable newborn deaths. Inappropriate interventions, as a contribution to perinatal death, were highest at higher-level facilities (general hospital to national referral hospital).
No hospital assessed was found to meet the Ministry of Health staffing norms for newborn care. None of the facilities had specialised neonatal care nurses, and only three neonatologists were present in the facilities assessed, compromising delivery of quality neonatal services at higher levels of care.
Most general hospitals lacked functional CPAP machines and patient monitors, while about a third had no phototherapy machines and radiant warmers.
Delays in getting appropriate care at the facility, and delays in seeking care (51.2% and 44.2% respectively), were linked to newborn mortality.
Birth asphyxia accounted for 60% of early neonatal deaths, followed by prematurity complications at 23%. Overall, the performance and quality of care in resuscitation is poor at all levels of care.
The evidence points to failures of quality in resuscitation capacity, equipment functionality, human resource availability and care coordination, rather than access alone. The window to achieve the SDG 3.2 target of a neonatal mortality rate of 12 per 1,000 live births by 2030 is narrow.
Resource library
A growing collection of practical materials. Each category below is ready to receive documents as they are approved for publication. No downloads are available yet.
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NICU guidance
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