In this work, various work-related musculoskeletal disorders were conscientiously studied from a gender perspective among the staff of Bishop Stuart University. A total of 112 staff members consented to participate in the study. 62 were females and 50 were males. The majority of our participants were within the age range of 30-39. The academic staff were 68 and the non-academic staff were 44.  The Krejcie and Morgan Table of 1970 was used to determine the sample size. The supporting staff members, visiting lecturers, and part-time staff were excluded from the study. The study was cross-sectional and the tool of data collection was Self structured, validated questionnaire. The data collection exercise lasted for 6 weeks, after which the collected data were analysed with SPSS version 25. The results revealed Low back pain, blurred vision, upper back pain, neck pain and shoulder/wrist pain were the common work-related musculoskeletal disorders suffered by the staff members. The study findings revealed that more male academic staff members suffered from work-related musculoskeletal disorders than their female counterparts. Conversely, the result of the study showed also that among the non-academic staff, there were more female sufferers of work-related musculoskeletal disorders than their male counterparts. Nevertheless, it was also noted that there was a concatenation of factors among other things that brought about the work-related musculoskeletal disorders, among staff members judging from Ergonomics standpoint. Such concatenation of factors was poor ergonomic knowledge application at workstation practices, lack of orientation on ergonomics, ergonomically designed working environment, etc.

Background: In Uganda, students face difficulty during career transition between different levels of education and employment despite government policies about implementation of career guidance and counselling services. Little has been documented about students’ levels of awareness, utilisation and extent of implementation of career guidance and counselling services within secondary schools in Uganda.Objective: This study aims at documenting students’ level of awareness and utilisation career guidance and counselling services, and how these services were being implemented in secondary schools in Uganda.Method: Cross-sectional survey was conducted using mixed methods in secondary schools in South Western Uganda. A total of 161 students in final year of secondary education (senior six) and 35 teachers across four schools met inclusion criteria and consented to participate in the study. Standardised questionnaires as primary tools of data collection were used. Quantitative data were analysed using SPSS (Version 23) and content analysis for qualitative data.Results: Majority of students (98.8%) revealed high awareness about existence of career guidance and counselling services, while 87.0% reported utilising the services. Implementation of career guidance and counselling in schools was demonstrated by type of programmes, information sources, models, timing and information structure by class level. However, challenges to implementation were sited, namely student, teachers, administrators, parents and policy factors.Conclusion and recommendation: Career guidance and counselling services were available and used in secondary schools. However, implementation was affected by functional and structural challenges that affected the quality of career counselling information and required alignment to national development goals.Contribution: The efficacy of career guidance and counselling in secondary schools in Uganda was documented in this article.