On Friday 4th May 2017, Amref Health Africa in Uganda participated in the 8th graduation ceremony of Mulago School of Nursing and Midwifery. The graduation ceremony was one of a kind as it included several eLearning students, enrolled in the Uganda Upgrading eLearning Midwives project, and trained through the Amref Health Africa eLearning solution. The aim of the project is to train more midwives and nurses in Uganda to diploma level to help improve the maternal and child health indicators of the rural-based and disadvantaged populations in Uganda.
With just one trained midwife for every 5,000 mothers, Uganda, like many countries in Africa, is still struggling to attain quality health care for mothers and children. Trained midwives are able to deliver quality services, thus, save lives, and at the same time, offer psycho-social support to the mothers.
Many midwives in Uganda have only been trained to ‘enrolled’ status, with majority lacking much needed skills to help lower the high maternal and newborn mortality in the country. In an attempt to transform lives in the continent, Amref Health Africa, through the eLearning programme, in collaboration with the Ministry of Health, Ministry of Education and Sports, Uganda Nurses and Midwives Council, Uganda Nurses and Midwives Examination Board and collaborating nursing schools, has trained 173 midwives to diploma level in the country.
The graduation saw 15 eLearning students awarded diplomas in midwifery. Out of the 15, three midwives were specifically mentioned for their outstanding performance. Several high level government officials were present during the event, and acknowledged the passion and hard work of the eLearning students.