The World Health Organization (WHO), the body concerned with global health has over several years advocated for improved education of health professionals as a way to improve global health. The basic premise on which the WHO`s recommendations are based is that effective education of health professionals has the capacity to produce health professionals who are “responsive to needs to the needs of the populations they serve, in order to achieve the goal of health for all”, and that such an education should be “based largely in the community, or in any of a variety of health service settings” (WHO, 1987, p. 5).

The health indicators for Uganda and the entire East and Central Africa region have continued to be poor in health care delivery especially for reproductive health and women’s health in general. The current Ugandan national health indicators of:  Total Fertility Rate (5.82),  Neonatal Mortality rate (21.4 deaths per 1,000 live births), Under Five Mortality rate (53 deaths per 1000 live births), Maternal Mortality Rate (336 deaths/100,000 live births (2015 UDHS 2016)  are among the highest in the region and the world. These poor health indicators highlight the health problems that predominantly affect women and children. The persistence of poor maternal and infant health indicators are partly due to the inadequate numbers of health practitioners in the community based primary care facilities with special preparation in midwifery. Additionally, the nurse to patient ratio in Uganda (6:100,000) is among the highest in Africa and higher than almost all other regions of the World.

Majority of maternal and newborn deaths in Uganda are due to preventable causes that can be significantly reduced by access to nursing care during   pregnancy, at birth, and   after birth,   particularly   the first 48 hours.  Midwives have the skills to recognize and provide the appropriate intervention or referral to prevent majority of maternal and newborn deaths as well as disability due to pregnancy complications such as obstetric fistula. However access to midwifery care in Uganda is constrained due to a number of factors. This has contributed to the  unacceptably high maternal mortality  of 368 deaths per 100,000 live births and the inadequate progress  towards achieving Sustainable Development Goal 3, target 1 and 2 of reducing  the   global   maternal  mortality ratio to  less   than 70  per 100,000 live births  and ending  preventable deaths of newborns and  under five children respectively by 2030.

These poor health indicators highlight the health problems that predominantly affect women and children. The persistence of poor maternal and infant health indicators are partly due to the inadequate numbers of health practitioners in the community based primary care facilities with special advanced preparation in midwifery and women health. Additionally, the nurse to patient ratio in Uganda (1:11000) is among the highest in Africa and higher than almost all other regions of the World. A Midwife in Uganda conducts between 350 and 500 deliveries per year; more than twice the 175 deliveries as recommend by WHO. Graduates from the Bachelor of Nursing science program will provide a critically needed human resource in the primary care setting, nursing care nearer to where pregnant mothers and infants live. The products of the BNS program will further reduce these deliveries to the numbers as recommended by WHO. Therefore, to achieve WHO recommendations, there is need to build the capacity of the Nurses to work independently to save human lives.

The program will also produce nurse educators and scholars, and nurse researchers in Ugandan and regional Universities, hospitals and other settings. Bachelor of Nursing Science graduates have been shown by various studies in other countries to be very effective in reducing the cost of care and improving general health outcomes of individuals and populations (Aigner, Drew & Philipp’s, 2004; Lambing, Ada, Fox & Divine, 2004; Lenz, Mundinger, Kane, Hopkins & Lin, 2004).

Source * https://fmu.ac.ug/bachelor-of-science-in-nursing/