| Overview : In pursuit of Uganda Vision 2040, the health sector in the Second National Development Plan (NDPII) aims at producing a healthy and productive population that effectively contributes to socio-economic transformation by providing accessible and quality health care to all people in Uganda through delivery of promotive, preventive, curative, palliative and rehabilitative health care. The Constitution of the Republic of Uganda provides for the right to health for all categories of the population. In the NDPII the sector recognizes the roles and contributions of all health care players; the Government, Non-governmental and Private players including indigenous traditional and complimentary health practitioners and communities and households as important health system players. Overall, the Health Sector in the NDPII is to deliver on four objectives of: (i) To contribute to the production of a healthy human capital through provision of equitable, safe and sustainable health services; (ii) to increase financial risk protection of households against impoverishment due to health expenditures; (iii) to address the key determinants of health through strengthening inter-sectoral collaboration and partnerships; (iv) to enhance health sector competitiveness in the region, including establishing centres of excellence in heart, cancer, renal care domains; and diagnostic services. On the Maternal health front, the NDPII targets to reduce the Maternal Mortality Rate from 438/100,000 live births in 2011 to 320/100,000 by 2020. It also targets to reduce infant mortality rate from 54/1000 live births in 2011 to 44/1000 live births by 2020. The health Sector Development Plan 2015 is also aligned to the same targets. At the Global level, Goal 3 of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) is to: Ensure healthy lives and promote well-being for all at all ages. Specific to maternal and child mortality are; Target 3.1: Reduce the global maternal mortality ratio to less than 70 per 100,000 live births and Target 3.2: End preventable deaths of newborns and under-five children. To contribute to accelerated reduction of maternal and infant deaths, Government of Uganda, led by Ministry of Health (MOH), National Planning Authority (NPA) and Uganda Human Rights Commission in partnership with United Nations partners, particularly; United Nations Office for Human Rights (UN OHCHR), United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), World Health Organization (WHO), have planned to undertake an initiate of reducing maternal and newborn mortality using a human right based approach. Rationale: The slow reduction in the incidences of maternal and child mortality has been attributed to inadequate response from a multi-sectoral perspective. In addition, while the Constitution of the Republic of Uganda provides for Health as a right, previous and current interventions are not explicitly programmed and implemented from a human rights dimension. Therefore, to accelerate reduction in the incidences of maternal and child mortality, it is prudent that a multi-sectoral human right based approach is adopted. Project Goal: Produce a synthesis report to inform the drafting of a multi sectoral response strategy on application of HRBA to reduce preventable maternal mortality and morbidity in Uganda. Objective: The overall objective of this undertaking is to establish the strength, weaknesses and gaps in the current responses towards reduction of maternal and child deaths in the Country and provide recommendations for focus areas in line with the technical guidance on application of HRBA to reduce preventable maternal mortality. | 
