The major objective of the Health sector is to improve the health of the people of Moroto District for a better living through a PHC approach and also as poverty eradication programme.
National policies
Consolidation of existing health services with expansion i.e. Orientation to health sub district, re-orientation and collaboration with NGOs and increasing the role of women in health care delivery. The service delivery is guided by the following,
1. The Health Sector Strategic Plan
2. The National Health Policy
3. Programme Specific Policies
District policies: attainment of good equitable standards of health for all people of Moroto District and promotion of healthy productive lives. The health situation of the people of Moroto is faced by a number of challenges. This is evident from the poor health indices .Infant mortality rate (IMR), is still high and stands at 140/1000 compared to the national average of 85/1000. Maternal mortality rate stands at 700 per 100,000 live births compared to the national average of 435 per 100,000 live births. Given the fact that IMR is a close indicator of the socio-economic conditions in a place, it reveals still a bad picture on the district.
Accessibility to health facilities, according to the 2002 Population and Housing Census only 52 % of the district population is within an average of 5 km to the health units. The rest of the population 48%) walks Long distances to health units. Walking Long distance to health units first reduces access to health units and increases chances of mortality in situations where referrals systems are weak.
Accessibility to safe water coverage of the total population accessing safe water. This percentage of water coverage is not constant especially during the dry season. Most of the boreholes dry up thus affecting water coverage. With support from central government and various development partners like Cooperation and Sanitation Coverage, the sanitation situation in the district is still bad with only about 10% of households having pit latrines (UPHC 2002). The major cause of Low latrines coverage in the district seems to be reluctance by the population, geological features of the area and poverty. However locally suitable latrines could be constructed using locally available materials. Disease burden, malaria remains a major cause of sickness and of mortality in the district, accounting for over 45% of morbidities (2005/06 Annual report).
