Persistent healthcare challenges in Pader District continue to put the lives of mothers and newborns at risk, despite improvements in maternal health services. The district registered 83 perinatal deaths in 2024 and seven in January 2025, revealing ongoing gaps in healthcare access and emergency response.
According to Isaac Omoding, the district biostatistician, the deaths include 31 cases where fresh stillbirths, 22 cases where macerated stillbirths, 33 newborn deaths, and four maternal deaths.
The Pader Acting District Health Officer Dominic Okidi has attributed most maternal deaths to severe bleeding, unsafe abortions, prolonged labor, infections, a torn womb (uterine rupture), and high blood pressure during pregnancy (hypertension) among the expectant mothers. According to Okidi, newborn deaths are often due to delayed deliveries, premature births, and poor pregnancy care.
While the district has made progress, delivering 6,033 babies in health facilities in the last two quarters of 2024, 59.3% of all births faced major gaps and has since remained. For instance, Pajule Health Center IV, recorded 1,514 deliveries but struggles with a shortage of delivery beds, where only one is functioning. The perinatal mortality rate in Pader district stands at 11%, neonatal mortality at 5%, fresh stillbirths at 5% per 1,000 births, and Cesarean sections at 3.3%.
Okidi further pointed to poor health-seeking behavior among expectant mothers and their aids, weak referral systems in the district, and poverty as major contributors to the crisis. With only one ambulance serving over 200,000 people, many expectant mothers hence rely on traditional birth attendants, which further increases death risks.
Talking to The Ankole Times, some locals pointed out to some social factors which also play a role, as men’s reluctance to support their spouses during pregnancy checkups remains a challenge. Charles Opira, a resident of Latek West village in Awere Sub-county, admitted that many men do not attend antenatal visits, leaving their women to struggle.
Meanwhile, Stella Lalam, a mother from Ayam West village confirmed that convincing husbands to participate in maternal healthcare has become difficult.
Health officials are calling for increased community awareness, hiring of more midwives to fill labor gap, better emergency services to be povided and improved maternity infrastructure to address the district’s maternal and infant survival challenges.
