The shortage of health workers in Uganda is a "crisis", says the Minister of Health, and activists say expectant mothers are bearing the brunt of the country's staffing deficiency. Just 56 percent of Uganda's available health positions are filled. Parliament's recent refusal to reallocate part of the country's budget to hire more doctors, nurses and midwives has now become a rallying point for Uganda's maternal health advocates. A parliamentary committee's recent attempt to redirect 75 billion Ugandan shillings – about US$27.5 million - out of a national budget of more than 10 trillion shillings ($3.6 billion) towards hiring enough health workers was rebuffed in September, a rejection that became official when President Yoweri Museveni agreed parliament's final budget. The reallocation failure has angered health advocates, especially maternal health activists, who point to the lack of trained nurses and midwives as a key reason an estimated 16 women die daily giving birth in Uganda. According to the International Monetary Fund, Zambia and Uganda have similar GDPs, but World Health Organisation figures show very different death rates for mothers in the two countries: 7.8 percent of all deaths of women of reproductive age in Zambia are related to childbirth, against 11.3 percent in Uganda.
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