COVID Perceptions among Pregnant Women Living in a Malaria Hyperendemic Rural Region in Uganda: A Cross-Sectional Study.

Both SARS-CoV2 and Plasmodium falciparum infection during pregnancy increases the risk for adverse maternal and fetal outcomes, including abortion, severe disease, and death. Indeed, although malaria and COVID-19 show an overlapping clinical presentation, they require a profoundly different approach. The aim of this study was to explore COVID-19 awareness among pregnant women living in a P.

Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on malaria in pregnancy indicators in Northern Uganda: a joinpoint regression analysis.

Background: Pregnancy is both a risk factor for infection and development of severe malaria. In low- and middle-income countries, the COVID-19 pandemic severely impacted health systems, including utilization of maternal services. This study aimed to assess trends in delivering malaria in pregnancy-related health-care services before and during COVID-19 in Northern Uganda.

Impact of antimalarial resistance and COVID-19 pandemic on malaria care among pregnant women in Northern Uganda (ERASE): protocol of a prospective observational study.

Background: Uganda accounts for 5% of all malaria cases and deaths reported globally and, in endemic countries, pregnancy is a risk factor for both acquisition of P. falciparum infection and development of severe malaria. In recent years, malaria control has been threatened by COVID-19 pandemic and by the emergence, in Northern Uganda, of both resistance to artemisinin derivatives and to sulfadoxine-pyrimethamine.

An integrated hospital-district performance evaluation for communicable diseases in low-and middle-income countries: Evidence from a pilot in three sub-Saharan countries.

Introduction: The last two decades saw an extensive effort to design, develop and implement integrated and multidimensional healthcare evaluation systems in high-income countries. However, in low- and middle-income countries, few experiences of such systems implementation have been reported in the scientific literature. We developed and piloted an innovative evaluation tool to assess the performance of health services provision for communicable diseases in three sub-Saharan African countries.

Changing the role of traditional birth attendants in Yirol West County, South Sudan.

Effective from May 2014, community-based traditional birth attendants (TBAs) in Yirol West County, South Sudan, were directed to start referring all women in labour to health facilities for childbirth instead of assisting them in the villages. This study aimed to understand the degree of integration of TBAs in the health system, to reveal the factors influencing the integration, and to explore the perceived solutions to the challenges faced by TBAs. A qualitative study utilising 11 focus group discussions with TBAs, 6 focus group discussions with women, and 18 key informant interviews with members of village health committees, staff of health facilities, and staff of the County Health Department was conducted.

Availability, utilisation and quality of maternal and neonatal health care services in Karamoja region, Uganda: a health facility-based survey.

Background: Maternal mortality is persistently high in Uganda. Access to quality emergency obstetrics care (EmOC) is fundamental to reducing maternal and newborn deaths and is a possible way of achieving the target of the fifth millennium development goal. Karamoja region in north-eastern Uganda has consistently demonstrated the nation's lowest scores on key development and health indicators and presents a substantial challenge to Uganda's stability and poverty eradication ambitions.

A qualitative study on barriers to utilisation of institutional delivery services in Moroto and Napak districts, Uganda: implications for programming.

Background: Skilled attendance at delivery is critical in prevention of maternal deaths. However, many women in low- and middle-income countries still deliver without skilled assistance. This study was carried out to identify perceived barriers to utilisation of institutional delivery in two districts in Karamoja, Uganda.