Subject(s)
Primary Health Care , Delivery of Health Care , Financial Management , Health Facilities , Hospitals, General , Uganda , BudgetsABSTRACT
Objective:To evaluate the impact of a peer-referral and clinic welcome programme for reducing barriers to adolescents' uptake of family planning services in Uganda. Methods: We developed an intervention using behavioural design and carried out a stratified, randomized controlled evaluation of the intervention in girls aged 1519 years. Sexual and reproductive health clinics were randomized into control (56 clinics) and intervention groups (60 clinics). All intervention clinics received the core intervention (materials to create an adolescent-friendly environment and referral cards to give to friends), while a subset of clinics additionally received training in youth-friendly service provision. We collected clinics' routine data on monthly numbers of visits by adults and adolescents over a 15-month baseline and 6-month intervention period, 20182020.Findings:In multivariate regression analysis we found significant effects of the intervention on primary outcomes in the pooled intervention group compared with control. Mean monthly visits by adolescents increased by 45% (incidence rate ratio, IRR: 1.45; 95% confidence interval, CI: 1.141.85), or over five additional adolescent clients per clinic per month. The mean adolescent proportion of total clients improved by 5.3 percentage points (95% CI: 0.020.09). Within treatment arms, clinics receiving the training in youth-friendly service provision showed the strongest effects: a 62% increase (IRR: 1.62; 95% CI: 1.212.17) in adolescent clients, or over seven additional adolescents per clinic per month, relative to the control group.Conclusion: A behavioural change intervention designed to target identified barriers can increase adolescents' uptake of family planning counselling and services.
Subject(s)
Humans , Female , Adolescent , Adult , Referral and Consultation , Family Planning Services , Ambulatory Care Facilities , Sex Education , AdolescentSubject(s)
Humans , Male , Female , Quarantine , Infection Control , Disease Prevention , COVID-19 , Uganda , Guideline , Environmental ExposureABSTRACT
Malaria remains one of the leading health burdens in the developing world, especially in several sub-Saharan Africa countries; and Uganda has some of the highest recorded measures of malaria transmission intensity in the world. It is evident that the prevalence of malaria infection, the incidence of disease, and mortality from severe malaria remain very high in Uganda. Although the recent stable political and economic situation in the last few decades in Uganda supported for a fairly good appreciation of malaria control, the declines in infection, morbidity, and mortality are not sufficient to interrupt transmission and this country is among the top 4 countries with cases of malaria, especially among children under 5 years of age. In fact, Uganda, which is endemic in over 95% of the country, is a representative of challenges facing malaria control in Africa. In this study, we evaluated an active case detection program in 6 randomly selected villages, Uganda. This program covered a potential target population of 5,017 individuals. Our team screened 12,257 samples of malaria by active case detection, every 4 months, from February 2015 to January 2017 in the 6 villages (a total of 6 times). This study assessed the perceptions and practices on malaria control in Kiyuni Parish of Kyankwanzi district, Uganda. Our study presents that the incidence of malaria is sustained high despite efforts to scale-up and improve the use of LLINs and access to ACDs, based on the average incidence confirmed by RDTs.
Subject(s)
Child , Humans , Africa , Africa South of the Sahara , Health Services Needs and Demand , Incidence , Malaria , Mortality , Prevalence , UgandaABSTRACT
Polio is a crippling and potentially deadly disease that can cause life long paralysis in children destroying their future and at times place a financial burden on the families and communities. Historical Background: Poliomyelitis is an ancient disease; believed to have occured nearly 6000 years ago according to the withered limbs of certain Egyptian mummies found in pyramids of 3700 BC. Poliomyelitis was first described in 1789 by underwood; in 1951 3 types of poliovirus were identified; 1961 Sabin produced the attenuated Oral Vaccine (OPV). With the success of polio vaccines; which drastically reduced poliomyelitis; the 41st WHA in may 1988 adopted a resolution to eradicate poliomyetitis by the year 2000. Polio eradicationis defined as no cases of clinical poliomyelitis associated with wild polio virus. No wild polio virus found world-wide despite intensive efforts to do so