The Uganda Bureau of Statistics (UBOS) has released the 2022 Uganda Demographic and Health Survey (UDHS), the seventh implemented under the DHS program in Uganda.
The report released Thursday by State Minister for Finance and Economic Planning, Hon Amos Lugolobi at Mestil Hotel in Kampala, reveals facts about the different health practices in both urban and rural areas within Uganda.
UBOS in collaboration with the Ministry of Health, the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), and the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) implemented the survey.
According to Dr Chris Mukiza, UBOS Executive Director, the information collected through the 2022 UDHS is intended to provide policymakers and program managers in the Ministry of Health and other organizations with information for designing, monitoring, and planning future population and health-related programs and interventions effectively.
“The demographic and health surveys (DHS) is a global programme that aims at generating health and demographic data and statistics needed for planning processes in the health sector,” stated Dr Mukiza.
He added: “The survey provides statistics on maternal and child mortality, nutrition, Malaria and HIV prevalence among other key health-related statistical data and information.”
Child mortality
According to the survey, the neonatal mortality rate is 22 deaths per 1,000 live births, the infant mortality rate is 36 deaths per 1,000 live births while the under-5 mortality rate is 52 deaths per 1,000 live births.
The findings also indicate that the maternal mortality ratio for the 7-year period before the survey is 189 deaths per 100,000 live births while the pregnancy-related mortality ratio for the same period is 228 deaths per 100,000 live births.
Fertility
According to the survey, the median age at first marriage is 19 years for women aged 25-49 and 25 years for men aged 25-49.
The report says women with no education have a higher fertility rate; 40% of married women want to delay childbearing hence the Mean Ideal number of children among currently married women is 5.3 children and 6 children for men.
According to the survey, 38% of currently married women aged 15-49 are using modern family planning methods, 40% of sexually active unmarried women aged 15-49 are using modern family planning methods while the total demand for family planning for currently married women aged 15-49 is 66%.
HIV/AIDS
The survey says 90% of women and only 58% of men know that the risk of getting HIV can be reduced by using condoms and limiting sex to one uninfected partner.
“44% of women and 32% of men were tested for HIV in the past 12 months and received the results of the test. 56% of women and 54% of men aged 15-24 have comprehensive knowledge about HIV,” reads the survey.
Sex habits
At least 23% of married women reported that their husband has more than one (multiple) wife while more men (17%) had never had any recent sexual intercourse compared to women (13%).
“Karamoja (55%) has the highest percentage of women reporting co-wives while Kigezi has the lowest (13%).”
According to the survey, 14.1% of women aged 20-24 had their first sexual intercourse by age 15 while 60.4% had it at the age of 18.
“13.2 of men aged 20-24 had their first sexual intercourse by age 15 while 58.4 had it at the age of 18,” the report states.
Dr Mukiza lauded the Ministry of Health for the collaborative efforts in generating these useful health indicators and the government through the Finance Ministry for enabling the success of UDHS 2022 by availing the Bureau with the required funds to support the survey.
In his speech, Minister Lugolobi emphasised the need to develop and maintain the National Statistical system to manage statistics.
In her speech, United Nations Representative in Uganda, Susan Ngongi Namondo, said it is befitting to acknowledge the government for the continued commitment to building a strong national statistical system and UBOS for the technical leadership in ensuring quality and timely production of data and statistics.
“We continue to celebrate the improvements in access to maternal health care and steady declines in maternal and childhood mortality and all the corresponding lives that were saved,” she noted.
She also noted that it is important to highlight that teenage pregnancy rates have remained essentially stagnant for the last two decades.
“I believe that we need to take a closer look at evidence-based approaches to sexuality education from the continent and globally if we are to see a meaningful reduction in Uganda girls becoming mothers at 14,15,16.”
She added: “It is important to also highlight that the survey continues to reveal significant gender gaps across many dimensions including in education, experience of sexual violence, nutrition and HIV.”
