Good health is instrumental in facilitating socio-economic transformation. Over the year, Uganda has made some progress in improving the health conditions of the population. The country has registered improvement in key health indicators: life expectancy at birth improved from 52years in 2008 to 54 years in 2011; maternal mortality ratio reduced from 435 to 325 per 100,000 live births in 2006 and 2011 respectively; and infant mortality rate reduced from 76 in 2006 to 63 per 1000 live births in 2011. However, as compared to other countries this progress is still slow as demonstrated in figure 5.2.

The slow progress is mainly attributed to the current health service delivery system which is facility-based. There will be a paradigm shift from facility-based to a household based health delivery system. The main thrust of this paradigm is an empowerment of households and communities to take greater control of their health by promoting healthy practices and lifestyles. This shift will be anchored on preventive over curative health service delivery approaches.