Mothers who kill children need medical attention, not prison sentences - Butabika Medic

The remarks were made by Juliet Nakku, the Executive Director of Butabika hospital, in an interview saying that during the first year, within six to eight weeks after delivery is when women are at the highest risk of developing mental health disorders. These mental issues drive some of these mothers to commit crimes against their children.

She said that the the cases of suicidal mothers and those who harm their children are high but addressing them in a hospital setting is more beneficial and sustainable than throwing them in prison. That it is not in the nature of a mentally well mother to bring her child to harm.

“We get attempted suicide cases of mothers, we also see infanticides (killing a child below one year), and many of these women end up in prison here in Uganda, but we advocate that these women should actually be channeled into hospitals. It is not normal for a woman who has just had a baby to wake up and kill her baby,” Dr Nakku said.

The interview came days after the World Health Organisation (WHO) published the guide for integration of perinatal mental health in maternal and child health services, on September 19 2022.

In the guide, it is indicated that mental disorders are prevalent in new mothers, affecting one in five women during pregnancy or within a year following birth.

According to Nakku, mothers face the fear of being stigmatised in society so they keep their mental health challenges tothemselves until it is too late when they are thrown in jail. She said that the most common disorders in mothers are depression, anxiety and psychosis.

She urged authorities to put forward laws and policies that protect and help women apprehended for infanticide, evaluating women on their mental states before passing judgement.

“We need to design documentation processes that ensure that health workers are asking the right questions more so on depression because it is the commonest,’’ Nakku said.

Frank Baine, the Prisons Services spokesperson, said that they have over 800 women in their custody who receive treatment for mental illness, and the severe cases are sent to Butabika hospital.

He revealed that Prisons is working on expanding its ward at Butabika hospital from the current capacity of 15 patients.