Healthy living is a Challenge in Guyaguya sub-county

38% of expectant mothers in Katakwi district more so in Guyaguya Subcounty go for traditional birth attendants when labour sets as revealed by the District Health Officer Dr Emmanuel Ongala. 

Dr Ongala puts this out during an integrated health outreach in the said sub county which was spearheaded by Child Fund Uganda in collaboration with Katakwi District Health Office and local partners  For Children Worldwide PFCW. 

He notes that giving birth under the care of Traditional Birth Attendants is too dangerous to both the life of the baby and the mother since it puts them at a high risk of contracting diseases in the course of giving birth which traditional birth attendants may not discover immediately.

Dr Ongala says the few hospitals that are in Katakwi district are too far,mother's can't easily access them adding that even those that reach sometimes can't be worked on  because of the few health supplies that these health centers happen to have. 

Brenda Asiimwe,the communications officer Child Fund Uganda says Guyaguya sub county was earmarked for the outreach because of a number of health challenges that residents go through including basic curative services particularly maternal and child health care since the sub county has no single government health facility. 

It was also revealed during the outreach that the average walking distance to access health services here is 15 kilometers and the few health facilities here lack the basic resources in form of manpower,equipment and the desired medicines to meet patient needs. 

A brief about Katakwi district is that it is one of the remote districts situated in the North-Eastern part of the country with a population of 166,231 according to the National Housing Population and Housing Census conducted in the year 2014.