Background The current outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic has distorted the physical, mental, and psychological condition of frontline healthcare providers in health facilities. This study aims to investigate the prevalence, and risk factors of depression, anxiety, and stress among nurses working in a COVID-19 referral hospital in Indonesia. Methods A cross-sectional study was conducted among 491 nurses, aged between 31, and 56 years, using a self-administered questionnaire. The Depression Anxiety Stress Scale (DASS21), and demographic questions were used to screen the presence of psychological problems, and their associated factors. Results The prevalence of moderate to extremely severe depression, anxiety and stress was 8.5 %, 20.6 and 6.3 %, respectively. Regression analysis showed that anxiety was significantly higher among nurses working in non-COVID wards (p = .01), those who experienced social rejection (p < .05), and those who frequently watched television (p < .05). Those who had temporary contracts were more stressed (p < .05), and those who faced financial hardship during the COVID-19 pandemic significantly experienced depression, anxiety, and stress at 10.5 %, 23.5 %, and 8.1 % respectively(p < .05). Conclusions While the prevalence of mental distress in this hospital is low, it exists, and hospital management should consider training for all nurses, public sensitization on COVID-19, and provision of financial subsidies for frontline workers, in order to manage the risk factors.

Access to safe and legal abortion services is a far reach for women and girls in Uganda. Although unsafe abortion rates have fallen from 54 to 39 per 1000 women aged 15-45 years over a decade, absolute figures show a rise from 294 000 in 2003 to 314 000 women having unsafe abortions in 2013. Unfortunately, only 50% of the women who develop abortion complications are able to reach facilities for postabortion care. Despite the clinical evidence and the stories from undocumented cases, debate on access to safer and legal abortion is constricted, moralized, and stigmatized. The harm reduction model has shown evidence of benefit in reducing maternal mortality and morbidity due to unsafe abortion while addressing related stigma and discrimination and advancing women's reproductive health rights. This article presents a case for promoting the model in Uganda.

Background: The current outbreak of COVID-19 pandemic distorts not only the physical, but also mental and psychological condition of healthcare providers, especially the nurses who directly working with the COVID-19 patients. This study aims to investigate the prevalence and risk factors of depression, anxiety and stress among nurses working in a COVID-19 referral hospital in Indonesia. Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted. A self-administered questionnaire, DASS21, along with the demographic questions was used to screen the presence of psychological problems and their associated factors. Results: the prevalence of moderate to extremely severe depression, anxiety and stress was 8.7%, 20.7% and 5.8%, respectively. The prevalence rate was significantly higher among those with financial hardship during the COVID-19 pandemic, with 10.5%, 23.5% and 8.1% for depression, anxiety and anxiety (P<.05), respectively. Regression analysis confirmed that these mental problems were associated with the experience of social rejection, either by family or neighbor, because they were working in the hospital during the pandemic. Conclusions: The financial hardship experienced by the nurses during disease pandemic increases their burden of mental illness therefore, providing the financial subsidiary might reduce their financial uncertainty. Furthermore, the motivation to have a positive attitude toward the pandemic, promotion of healthy behavior such as the use of face mask and the provision of sufficient information on the diseases, may help them properly manage their mental distress.

Background. Antipsychotics exert metabolic side effects, and prolonged treatment with antipsychotics causes changes in body weight and muscle composition. Nevertheless, reports on the changes in body composition of patients with schizophrenia have been limited. This study is aimed at comparing the body mass index and body composition of patients with schizophrenia with healthy individuals in Indonesia. Methods. A total of 195 patients with schizophrenia (148 males and 47 females) and 195 healthy individuals matched by gender were recruited. Using the Bioelectrical Impedance Analysis method, the participants’ body compositions were measured. Results. Compared to healthy individuals, the patient group exhibited a higher rate of underweight as well as a lower rate of overweight and obesity. Multiple regression analysis confirmed the associations between the body mass index and all measured body compositions. Furthermore, the diagnosis of schizophrenia is significantly associated with lower muscle mass, lower bone mass, higher basal metabolic rate, older metabolic age, and higher total body water. Conclusions. The results showed that patients with schizophrenia are at a greater risk of a lower quality of certain components of body composition. Priority should be given to research that addresses increasing the patient’s level of physical activity.

There is an acute shortage of Human Resources for Health in Uganda. While task sharing in the delivery of reproductive services is one of the strategies to avert this crisis, it takes place in an unregulated environment. The consequent lack of legal protection for health care providers poses a potential barrier to task sharing for both providers and the government. We show in this legal and policy review that the approach is not new in the country and that it has provisions in some policy documents. We further show the legal implications if it is rolled out in an unregulated environment and propose six options to guide regulation. These include enforcing the Health Service Commission Act, utilizing the mandate of the Director General to authorize treatment, amending the regulations of health professional regulatory bodies, developing regulation to support implementation of the acts for health professionals, developing a full act of parliament, and enacting ordinances at the district level.