{
  "id": 12868414,
  "title": "Uganda: Health Ministry Mobilises Faith Leaders to Help Reduce Maternal Deaths",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/10/08/uganda-health-ministry-mobilises-faith-leaders-to-help-reduce",
  "topic": "health",
  "section": "Health & Medicine",
  "published": "2026-10-08T12:30:14.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "AllAfrica Health",
    "slug": "allafrica-health",
    "url": "https://allafrica.com/stories/202610080400.html"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": "The Ugandan Ministry of Health has enlisted the help of religious and cultural leaders to combat high maternal mortality rates. During a meeting with interfaith health advocates from 32 districts, Dr. Richard Mugahi, the reproductive and child health commissioner, emphasized the need for women to receive skilled care during pregnancy and childbirth. He also urged policymakers to prioritize the construction and strengthening of Health Centre IIIs and IVs to bring essential services closer to communities. The minister for Kyabazinga Affairs, Yudaya Babirye, highlighted teenage pregnancy, poverty, and poor education outcomes as major challenges in the Busoga region. She stressed the importance of men's involvement in family affairs to address teenage pregnancy and domestic violence. The Kyabazinga of Busoga has ordered that sexual and reproductive health programs should specifically target men and encourage their participation in family decision-making. Sheikh Muhammad Ali Waiswa, Vice Chairperson of the Faith for Family Health Initiative, noted that Uganda still faces challenges related to maternal and teenage pregnancies, but religious leaders are influential because communities listen to their guidance. The Faith for Family Health Initiative has trained over 1,000 interfaith leaders, who are using family-planning seminars to promote the timing and spacing of pregnancies and address misconceptions about family planning. The program also focuses on malaria and sickle cell disease and has been benchmarked for East Africa with support from the David and Lucile Packard Foundation. Religious leaders are increasingly engaging communities on sexual and reproductive health issues, marking a significant shift in addressing these critical health challenges.",
  "summary": "[Nile Post] The Ministry of Health has called on religious and cultural leaders to use their influence in communities to encourage pregnant women to attend antenatal care and deliver at accredited health facilities as part of efforts to reduce maternal deaths in Uganda.",
  "key_points": [],
  "editors_take": null,
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 1,
    "also_reported_by": []
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}