Coronavirus disease-2019 epidemic response in Uganda: The need to strengthen and engage primary healthcare

Besigye, Innocent; Mulowooza, Michael; Namatovu, Jane

doi:10.4102/phcfm.v12i1.2443

Cited by 8 publications

(14 citation statements)

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“… 63 The first case motivated the Ugandan government to respond combatively by restricting public gatherings and imposing a movement restriction and a comprehensive travel ban into and out of Uganda, allowing only essential commodities. 63 , 64 The president also held regular press briefings to manage infodemic and share situation reports about the outbreak. 65 The country leveraged religious leaders for RCCE and shared update using government website ( ).…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Risk communication and community engagement strategies for COVID-19 in 13 African countries

Adebisi

Rabe

Lucero‐Prisno

2021

Health Promot Perspect

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Background: Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) outbreak is a major threat facing health systems globally and African countries are not an exception. Stakeholders, governments, and national authorities have mounted responses to contain the pandemic. This study aimed to catalogue the risk communication and community engagement (RCCE) strategies as well as the challenges facing RCCE in 13 African countries. Methods: We conducted a narrative review of evidence to answer the aim of the study. The search was conducted in March 2021 and evidence published between December 2019 and February 2021 were included. Data reported in this article were obtained from reports, literature in peer-reviewed journals, grey literature and other data sources in 13 African countries. The 13 countries include Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, Algeria, Angola, Cote d’Ivoire, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Mauritius, Nigeria, South Africa, Tanzania, Uganda, and Zambia. The authors also snowball further data to gather information for this review. Results: Most of the priority African countries have RCCE strategies to contain the transmission and spread of the coronavirus. Our findings revealed RCCE strategies in the 13 African countries focused on training and capacity building, risk communication systems, internal and partners’ coordination, community engagement, public communication, contending uncertainty, addressing misperceptions and managing misinformation. However, the RCCE response activities were not without challenges, which included distrust in government, cultural, social, and religious resistance, and inertia among others. Conclusion: With the similar RCCE approaches and interventions seen across the countries, it is clear that countries are learning from each other and from global health organizations to develop COVID-19 RCCE programs. It is important for African countries to address the challenges facing RCCE in order to effectively contain the pandemic and to prepare for future public health emergencies.

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Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Risk communication and community engagement strategies for COVID-19 in 13 African countries

Adebisi

Rabe

Lucero‐Prisno

2021

Health Promot Perspect

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“…Some described public health education campaigns that were carried out through community organisations and social media (Motlhatlhedi et al, 2020;Oseni et al, 2020). National level health education and mass sensitisation of the population was carried out in Uganda at all levels, while district and community leaders in Uganda were responsible for enforcing bans on gatherings and funerals and ensuring that soap and water were available in public places (Besigye, Mulowooza & Namatovu, 2020). Community support was provided as donations by local non-government organisations (NGOs), religious groups and businesses in Uganda (Besigye, Mulowooza & Namatovu, 2020).…”

Section: Community-based Activitiesmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…National level health education and mass sensitisation of the population was carried out in Uganda at all levels, while district and community leaders in Uganda were responsible for enforcing bans on gatherings and funerals and ensuring that soap and water were available in public places (Besigye, Mulowooza & Namatovu, 2020). Community support was provided as donations by local non-government organisations (NGOs), religious groups and businesses in Uganda (Besigye, Mulowooza & Namatovu, 2020). In South Africa, provision of food parcels or vouchers for food and help with transport and communications was reported (Brey et al, 2020).…”

Section: Community-based Activitiesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Innovation in primary health care responses to COVID-19 in Sub-Saharan Africa

Ray

Mash

2021

Prim Health Care Res Dev

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Background: In May 2020, the African Journal of Primary Health Care and Family Medicine invited submissions on lessons learnt from responses to the COVID-19 pandemic from primary care providers in Africa. This included descriptions of innovations and good practices, the management of COVID-19 in district health services and responses of communities to the outbreak. Aim: To synthesise the lessons learnt from the COVID-19 pandemic in the Africa region. Methods: A thematic document analysis was conducted on twenty-seven short report publications from Botswana, Ghana, Nigeria, South Africa, Uganda and Zimbabwe. Findings: Eight major themes were derived from the data: community-based activities; screening and testing; reorganisation of health services; emergency care for COVID-19; maintenance of essential non-COVID-19 health services; caring for the vulnerable; use of information technology; and reframing training opportunities. Community health workers were a vital community resource, delivering medications and other supplies to homes, as well as following up on patients with chronic conditions. More investment in community partnerships and social mobilisation was proposed. Difficulties with procurement of test kits and turn-around times were constraints for most countries. Authors described how services were reorganised for focused COVID-19 activities, sometimes to the detriment of essential services and training of junior doctors. Innovations in use of internet technology for communication and remote consultations were explored. The contribution of family medicine principles in upholding the humanity of patients and their families, clear leadership and planning, multidisciplinary teamwork and continuity of care was emphasised even in the context of providing critical care. Conclusions: The community-orientated primary care approach was emphasised as well as long-term benefits of technological innovations. The pandemic exposed the need to deliver on governmental commitments to strengthening primary health care and universal health coverage.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…3 Although the government has directed implementation of social distancing in all public places and wearing of face masks, adherence by the public has been questionable. 8,9 Despite this, the increase of the number of confirmed cases with COVID-19 has been of less worry to people. 10 Uganda, just like other developing countries is faced with challenges like inadequate resources in order to take care of the huge number of COVID-19 infected patients in contrast to developed countries.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Assessing Knowledge, Attitudes and Practices Towards COVID-19 Public Health Preventive Measures Among Patients at Mulago National Referral Hospital

Nelson¹,

Olum²,

Gwokyalya³

et al. 2021

RMHP

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Background: COVID-19 has become a major global health challenge, with Uganda reporting over 20,000 cases. There is, however, a scarcity of data on the perception of patients in Uganda towards the highly infectious disease. We aimed to assess the awareness, knowledge, attitudes, and practices towards COVID-19 preventive measures among patients at Mulago National Referral Hospital (MNRH), Uganda. Methods: A cross-sectional quantitative survey was conducted in August, 2020, among patients in surgical and medical wards at MNRH. An interviewer-administered, pre-validated questionnaire was used to collect data that was entered into Google Forms and analyzed using Microsoft Excel and STATA 16. Descriptive statistics was used to present data from univariate analysis. Patients whose knowledge and practice scores were greater or equal to the average score were regarded to have good knowledge and practices respectively. Chisquare, Fisher's Exact tests and binary logistic regression were used to assess factors associated with COVID-19 knowledge and practices. A P<0.05 was statistically significant. Results: Overall, 114 patients were approached and 102 consented to participate. Most were females (53.8%), aged above 45 years (31.4%) with 40.2% reporting primary level as the highest level of education. About 55.9% (n=57) had adequate knowledge for COVID-19 and its related practices, and 52% (n=53) had good COVID-19 related practices. Knowledge significantly differed by marital status at bivariate analysis (P=0.020), however this lost significance at logistic regression. Female patients were thrice more likely to have good COVID-19 prevention practices compared to males (COR: 2.59, 95% CI: 1.2 to 5.8, P=0.020). Some 47 (46.1%) participants perceived that COVID-19 preventive measures were not difficult at all to observe. Conclusion: About half of the patients at Mulago National Referral Hospital lack adequate knowledge and practice on COVID-19 prevention. Continued patient education is required to increase knowledge which will in turn improve adherence to COVID-19 preventive practices.

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Coronavirus disease-2019 epidemic response in Uganda: The need to strengthen and engage primary healthcare

Cited by 8 publications

References 0 publications

Risk communication and community engagement strategies for COVID-19 in 13 African countries

Risk communication and community engagement strategies for COVID-19 in 13 African countries

Innovation in primary health care responses to COVID-19 in Sub-Saharan Africa

Assessing Knowledge, Attitudes and Practices Towards COVID-19 Public Health Preventive Measures Among Patients at Mulago National Referral Hospital

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