• Report a rights violation:
  • 0800 300 044
  • info@cehurd.org
UCHD2025
Posted on Categories News 1 Comment on Access to information, Why it should matter for Communities.

Access to information, Why it should matter for Communities.

Today information about the global community is continuously becoming more available yet the space to access information supposedly closer to us and about issues that affect us more directly becomes narrower and narrower. But just to what extent is one entitled to know about activities that go on in their backyard that significantly impact their livelihood when they have no proprietary rights in said activities. Human lives and health are significantly affected by the nature of their environment and the activities that are carried out in their environments and the government has through the National Environment Management Authority (NEMA) set up measures to ensure that the environment is not affected by any activities including by requiring impact assessments before such activities are carried out.

Read More Access to information, Why it should matter for Communities.

Posted on Categories News 1,483 Comments on Intangible Cultural Assets of the Framework Convention on Global Health

Intangible Cultural Assets of the Framework Convention on Global Health

By Adaora Ezike, MHS Candidate, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health:

fcghApproaching 2015, the global community awaits the results which will reveal whether priority countries achieved their Millennium Development Goal (MDG) targets. Global health monitoring bodies such as the World Health Organization, advocate for Universal Health Coverage (UHC) as the primary focus of post-2015 sustainable development goals (UNESCO 2012). The Framework Convention on Global Health (FCGH) would create a template for a legally binding global health treaty rooted in the right to health.

Although costly to rollout, the framework convention would be advantageous for advancing and achieving health justice; it could do this by countering intellectual property laws that reduce access to essential medicines, reforming environmental health policies that currently protect the drivers of environmental pollution and by increasing financial transparency of health sector budgets.

Universal health coverage would also be beneficial in leveraging public health efforts to improve availability, accessibility and acceptability of health services and interventions on the population-level. Furthermore, establishing a legal obligation for the government to provide a standard quality of care and coverage could increase overall health efficacy of communities and health seeking behaviors of individuals.READ FULL BLOG

Posted on Categories News 76 Comments on Safe delivery, a reverie for Uganda; Child theft at the peak.

Safe delivery, a reverie for Uganda; Child theft at the peak.

By Nakibuuka Noor Musisi,

Until proper and well-coordinated systems are in place, safe delivery is likely to remain a dream in Uganda. When reports are made about child theft within health care systems, one can think they are just stories but the reality is true. Such happen. Many women have lost their new born babies in the health facilities; the cause of which is yet to be determined.

Just before the High court makes its pronunciation in a case instituted by CEHURD (CEHURD and others V. Executive Director of Mulago National Referral Hospital) on allegations of child theft, another case has again been reported of a lost child within the same health facility, and the only National referral Hospital, under similar circumstances.

Many questions remain unanswered when we see such happen in the country. Could this be the reason behind Uganda’s failure to achieve MDG 4 and 5? Why do children get lost in the facilities? Is it the system failure or it’s the problem of individual health workers that opt for money out of these new born babies? Will the maternal death rates be reduced at this rate of child theft? Are mothers safer to deliver in health facilities or within hands of traditional birth attendants? Such and many more remain unanswered.

It is indeed disturbing to see a mother who goes through the nine months of pregnancy suffer due to system failure.This was the case for Ms. Anyongire Lovis and Mr. Fred Sanyu. It is alleged that the couple was delivered of a beautiful brown fat bouncing baby girl on the night of 2nd January 2014. After a few minutes, the health workers took the baby away noting that she was ‘tired’. The demand to receive their child has since been in vain. They were only given a body of a dark skinned borny baby girl the following day and on refusal of that, another body that fits their description (of a brown fat baby girl) was given to them.

CEHURD has intervened in the matter, we have interviewed the family and hope to meet the administration of Mulago Hospital for further particulars as we collect evidence to institute a health and human rights related case on behalf of the family.

As we progress to advocate for safe motherhood and delivery, many factors have remained constant that ought to lead the country down. Its unfortunate that health facilities that are meant to be safe places for delivery are turning into a market place for new born babies. Such factors coupled with medicine stock outs, poor remuneration of health workers hinder and will continue to hinder safe delivery within the health care system unless addressed.