Uganda Protestant Medical Bureau’s Contributions to Family Planning Dr. Tonny Tumwesigye Executive Director 3 December 2013 Acts 1:7-8
Jul 04, 2015
Uganda Protestant Medical Bureau’s
Contributions to Family Planning
Dr. Tonny Tumwesigye
Executive Director
3 December 2013
Acts 1:7-8
UPMB Background • Founded in 1957 as an NGO to manage mission hospital
grants & serve as liaison between the facilities & government
• Currently a network of 278 health facilities affiliated with Protestant Churches
• Together with the Catholic, Muslim & Orthodox Medical Bureaus - account for around 45% of health care service delivery in Uganda
• Key Mandate as Technical Arm of the Protestant Churches :
– Institution Capacity Development
– Advocacy & Networking
– Coordination
– Patient Safety & Quality Assurance
– Reproductive Health & HIV/AIDS
Reproductive Health- Past Experience
FHI Funded Project • To strengthen the capacity of
Ugandan health networks in integrated maternal health & sexual reproductive health services (SRH) in rural communities
• Duration: 2002 - 04
• 10 districts facility & community based
• Focused on Sexual and Reproductive Health (SRH) Information Education and Communications (IEC) & service provision, post-abortion care, treatment of STIs, FP counseling & provision of commodities
Funded by Big Lottery Fund (BLF)/Interact World Wide-UK • Reaching women & girls with
quality SRH education, counseling & services
• Duration: 2006-09
• 10 Districts
• Facility & community- based
Strategic Project on Maternal & Neonatal Health (MNH)
• Funded by Big Lottery Fund
• Duration: 2009-13
• 31 health facilities in 20 districts
• Facility and community-based
• Use of Village Health Teams (VHTs) & Community-Based Volunteers (CBVs)
• FP integration in nation-wide PMTCT roll out
• VHTs & CBVs are still active
Packard Foundation Funded FP Project
• Africa Christian Health Associations (ACHA) FP Project
– 2013 – 2015
– Facility and community-based
– 2 health facilities in 2 districts-low uptake of FP
– Objective: To strengthen capacity of church-run health facilities to develop & implement quality FP programs on a larger scale, serving difficult to reach clientele & improving rural health services
Packard Foundation Funded FP Project
• Capacity building of health workers & CBVs-community based volunteers
• Strengthening community referrals for FP services
• Community mobilization & sensitization
• Conduct integrated FP outreaches
• Development & printing of IEC materials
FP Integration
• A total 150 VHTs & CBVs trained in partnership with FHI 360 to give commodities
• Through this network, more than 1000 clients access FP services a month
• Integrates FP into HIV & postnatal clinics • Family Planning Camps –
• Hard to reach facilities, • Communities mobilized, • Share critical knowledge & skills. • Tubal ligation being utilized
Parents receiving education in FP, nutrition and general care after delivery
Lessons : FP Messaging
• Example of a message that works: “plan a small manageable family for a better life”
• Be simple, clear & easy to understand
• Local language most preferred for packaging information/messages
• Consistent messaging makes people appreciate messages better
• Involvement of local political leaders & community elders
Lessons: Working with Religious Leaders
• Using religious leaders as agents of change in Busoga-East Central Region around Lake Victoria, rural to semi urban, high fertility rate (about 8 percent), highly polygamous, poor communities
• Good uptake of natural methods by religious leaders
– Peer education a powerful tool for training religious leaders on FP
Success story – Peer Education for Religious Leaders of All Faiths
Lessons: Working with Men
• Husbands/men play a dominant role in decision making regarding Reproductive Health services
• Most available RH services are not male friendly
• Addressing the RH care of couples would increase male engagement in FP
Scale Up Strategies
• FP integration into existing RH services like
PMTCT & cancer screening
• Increased use of CBVs to increase access &
utilization for FP services at community level
• Use of religious leaders to promote & create
demand for services related to child spacing
Acts 1:7-8