Barriers to treatment seeking for depression among elderly service users at Butabika National Referral and Teaching hospital, Kampala- Uganda.

Objectives: Depression among the elderly is a significant public health concern in Uganda, where cultural, social, and healthcare-related barriers hinder access to treatment and support. This study examines the barriers to mental health service access faced by elderly service-users in Uganda.

Method: Using an interpretive phenomenological approach, in-depth interviews were conducted to capture the lived experiences of elderly Baganda service users receiving treatment at Butabika National Referral and Teaching hospital.

"Here, your only relative is money…" why slum social networks do not facilitate neighborhood community development: insights through a sanitation lens.

Introduction: Though social networks which are deemed vehicles of community development exist in slum areas, underdevelopment still persists in these areas. We explored the nature and role of social networks in facilitating community development in the slums of Kampala through a sanitation lens.

Methods: Qualitative Social Network Analysis (SNA) was done to understand the nature of slum social networks primarily through the analysis of sanitation behavior.

Understanding Uganda's early adoption of novel differentiated HIV treatment services: a qualitative exploration of drivers of policy uptake.

Background: Although differentiated service delivery (DSD) for HIV treatment was endorsed by the WHO in its landmark 2016 guidelines to lessen patients' need to frequently visit clinics and hence to reduce unnecessary burdens on health systems, uptake has been uneven globally. This paper is prompted by the HIV Policy Lab's annual report of 2022 which reveals substantial variations in programmatic uptake of differentiated HIV treatment services across the globe. We use Uganda as a case study of an 'early adopter' to explore the drivers of programmatic uptake of novel differentiated HIV treatment services.

'When will the doctor be around so that I come by?!' Geo-socio effects on health care supply, access and utilisation: experiences from Kalangala Islands, Uganda.

Background: The study set out to give an in-depth intersection of geo, eco-socio exposition of the factors relating to geography, healthcare supply and utilization in an island setting. This analysis is informed by what has emerged to be known as social epidemiology. We provide in-depth explanation of context to health care access, utilization and outcomes.

A Struggle for Survival: Meaning of Late Life in a Rural District in Uganda: A Qualitative Study.

Between 2015 and 2050, the aging population of Uganda (aged 50 years and older) will be nearly doubled. Therefore, later-life problems have become an area of increasing research and policy interest. This study aimed at exploring how aging people living in extreme poverty in a low-income country experience their everyday life and what kind of meaning systems employed by them to understand and cope with their living conditions.

Re-conceptualizing sustainable urban sanitation in Uganda: why the roots of 'Slumification' must be dealt with.

Background: Country-wide urbanization in Uganda has continued amidst institutional challenges. Previous interventions in the water and sanitation sector have not addressed the underlying issues of a poorly managed urbanization processes. Poor urbanisation is linked to low productivity, urban poverty, unemployment, limited capacity to plan and offer basic services as well as a failure to enforce urban standards.

Understanding implementation barriers in the national scale-up of differentiated ART delivery in Uganda.

Background: Although Differentiated Service Delivery (DSD) for anti-retroviral therapy (ART) has been rolled-out nationally in several countries since World Health Organization (WHO)'s landmark 2016 guidelines, there is little research evaluating post-implementation outcomes. The objective of this study was to explore patients' and HIV service managers' perspectives on barriers to implementation of Differentiated ART service delivery in Uganda.

Methods: We employed a qualitative descriptive design involving 124 participants.

Livelihood Risk, Culture, and the HIV Interface: Evidence from Lakeshore Border Communities in Buliisa District, Uganda.

Background: While studies have focused on HIV prevalence and incidence among fishing communities, there has been inadequate attention paid to the construction and perception of HIV risk among fisher folk. There has been limited research with respect to communities along Lake Albert on the border between Uganda and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).

Methods: We conducted a qualitative study on three landing sites of Butiaba, Bugoigo, and Wanseko on the shores of Lake Albert along the border of Uganda and the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Assessing the level of institutionalization of donor-funded anti-retroviral therapy (ART) programs in health facilities in Uganda: implications for program sustainability.

Background: In the context of declining international assistance for ART scale-up in Sub-Saharan Africa, the institutionalization of ART programs through integrating them in the organizational routines of health facilities is gaining importance as a program sustainability strategy.

Objective: The aims of this study were; (i) to compare the level of institutionalization of ART programs in health facilities in Uganda and (ii) to explore reasons for variations in the degree of program institutionalization.

Methods: In Phase One, we utilized Level of Institutionalization Scales developed by Goodman (1993) to measure the degree of institutionalization of ART interventions in 195 health facilities across Uganda.

Understanding the persistence of vertical (stand-alone) HIV clinics in the health system in Uganda: a qualitative synthesis of patient and provider perspectives.

Background: Although there is mounting evidence and policy guidance urging the integration of HIV services into general health systems in countries with a high HIV burden, vertical (stand-alone) HIV clinics are still common in Uganda. We sought to describe the specific contexts underpinning the endurance of vertical HIV clinics in Uganda.

Methods: A qualitative research design was adopted.

Seasonal variations and shared latrine cleaning practices in the slums of Kampala city, Uganda.

Background: The effect of seasons on health outcomes is a reflection on the status of public health and the state of development in a given society. Evidence shows that in Sub-Saharan Africa, most infectious diseases flourish during the wet months of the year; while human activities in a context of constrained choices in life exacerbate the effects of seasons on human health. The paper argues that, the wet season and when human activities are at their peak, sanitation is most dire poor slum populations.

Gender variations in access, choice to use and cleaning of shared latrines; experiences from Kampala Slums, Uganda.

Background: Sanitation is one of the most intimate issues that affect women, especially in slums of developing countries. There are few studies that have paid attention to the gender variations in access, choice to use and cleaning of shared latrines in slums.

Methods: This paper draws on qualitative data from a cross sectional study conducted between 2012 and 2013 in six slums of Kampala City, Uganda.

Descending the sanitation ladder in urban Uganda: evidence from Kampala Slums.

Background: While the sanitation ladder is useful in analysing progressive improvements in sanitation, studies in Uganda have not indicated the sanitation barriers faced by the urban poor. There are various challenges in shared latrine use, cleaning and maintenance. Results from Kampala city indicate that, failure to clean and maintain sanitation infrastructure can lead to a reversal of the potential benefits that come with various sanitation facilities.

Interface of culture, insecurity and HIV and AIDS: Lessons from displaced communities in Pader District, Northern Uganda.

Background: Northern Uganda unlike other rural regions has registered high HIV prevalence rates comparable to those of urbanized Kampala and the central region. This could be due to the linkages of culture, insecurity and HIV. We explored community perceptions of HIV and AIDS as a problem and its inter-linkage with culture and insecurity in Pader District.