Publications by authors named "M Umulisa"

Background: The Ebola Virus Disease (EVD) for decades has been a public health concern in some parts of the world especially in East, Central, and West Africa. Despite investment in improving community members' health, there is regular resistance to available intervention, with little literature describing the reasons. This necessitated exploring knowledge, attitude, and practices of community members' towards the EVD prevention strategies in the Western Province of Rwanda.

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Background: Although at the base of the pyramid-shaped organization of the Rwandan health system, community health workers (CHWs) are central to the community-based management of disease outbreaks.

Objective: This mixed methods study aimed to explore the feasibility, acceptability, satisfaction, and challenges of a mobile health (mHealth) tool for community-based COVID-19 screening in Rwanda.

Methods: Two urban (Gasabo and Nyarugenge) and 2 rural (Rusizi and Kirehe) districts in Rwanda participated in the project (smartphone app for COVID-19 screening).

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Background: The introduction of female-initiated drug-delivery methods, including vaginal rings, have proven to be a promising avenue to address sexually transmitted infections and unintended pregnancies, which disproportionally affects women and girls in sub-Saharan Africa. Efficient uptake of existing and new technologies such as vaginal rings requires in depth understanding of product adherence. This remains a major challenge as data on adherence to vaginal rings from African countries is limited.

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Background And Aims: The unified Rwandan initiative for national ZEBOVAC immunization (UMURINZI) program's community engagement component was enacted to mobilize and vaccinate high-risk community members. This article describes best practices and lessons learned from the implementation of UMURINZI, a large-scale Ebola vaccination program.

Methods: The population deemed to be at risk for EVD consisted of people who frequently cross Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) borders including those coming from Kigali City, potential first responders who have not previously been vaccinated against EVD, as well as people who reside in high-risk border-proximate areas of the Rubavu and Rusizi districts in the Western Province of Rwanda.

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Background: Rwanda was the first African country to implement national human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccination (against types HPV6, 11, 16, and 18). In 2011, a school-based catch-up programme was initiated to vaccinate girls aged younger than 15 years but it also reached older girls in schools. We aimed to estimate the population-level effect of HPV vaccination on HPV prevalence.

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