Edward Ssebbombo
Malaria Consortium

In 2002, Uganda introduced free health care for all in public health facilities. It was such a welcome move especially for the poor segments of society.

However, the free health care policy is undermined by a corrupted health care system. It’s a common practice to find health workers are absent attending to personal priorities while drugs & other essential medical utilities are often stolen by the very custodians of such items. In other instances, health workers illegally demand for fees and patients are denied free health care for failure to bribe the workers. One case in point is a sad incident that occurred in 2010 in Mityana government referral hospital where a mother was referred for complicated delivery, but health workers refused to attend to her after she failed to pay them a bribe of $8, she died with her unborn twins!

Increased investment in the health sector by government & donor agencies has not translated into good health outcomes. Maternal mortality rate currently stands at a staggering 435 mothers per 100,000 live births; this translates to 16 mothers perishing per day in the process of giving birth.

 Negligence of duty and corruption thrive due to impunity. Impunity prevails in absence of the rule of law. It is therefore apparent to me that most of the development challenges facing Africa, be it poor health, famine, unemployment, poor infrastructure, or civil strife are not necessarily due to lack of resources but absence of the rule of law.

Investment in ensuring that the rule of law prevails is as cost effective a public investment as malaria & HIV/AIDS prevention. The Democratic Republic of Congo with mineral wealth valued at over $3trillion is a highly indebted poor country thanks to corruption & dictatorship, vices that thrive in absence of rule of law.

It is the responsibility of every individual person, of every profession or even no profession, civil society, business, national governments, and the international community to ensure that the rule of law takes root all around the world.

Edward Ssebbombo Malaria Consortium

Edward Ssebbombo has joined Malaria Consortium moving from Malaria Prevention Mission-Uganda where he was Managing Director. For over six years, Edward Ssebbombo worked on a Not for Profit community-based Micro Health Insurance Scheme organizing rural communities especially people with low & irregular incomes to increase their access to quality healthcare. He is co-founder & member of the Board of Trustees of Save for Health Uganda, the NGO supporting these schemes currently benefiting over 3000 families. Edward first worked as a teacher, Headmaster then worked with the PNFP Nurse Training schools in Uganda. He headed an NGO that helps poor students to sustainably access quality secondary education. Edward is a former member of Buganda Tourism Board. He is founder & Chief Executive, Self Help Development Agency. Edward is the proprietor ‘Bobo Integrated Farm. He holds post graduate degrees in development & management.

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