Effect of a participatory multisectoral maternal and newborn intervention on maternal health service utilization and newborn care practices: a quasi-experimental study in three rural Ugandan districts.

Background: The MANIFEST study in eastern Uganda employed a participatory multisectoral approach to reduce barriers to access to maternal and newborn care services.

Objectives: This study analyses the effect of the intervention on the utilization of maternal and newborn services and care practices.

Methods: The quasi-experimental pre- and post-comparison design had two main components: community mobilization and empowerment, and health provider capacity building.

Incremental cost of increasing access to maternal health care services: perspectives from a demand and supply side intervention in Eastern Uganda.

Introduction: High maternal and infant mortality continue to be major challenges to the attainment of the Millennium Development Goals for many low and middle-income countries. There is now evidence that voucher initiatives can increase access to maternal health services. However, a dearth of knowledge exists on the cost implications of voucher schemes.

Community knowledge and perceptions about indoor residual spraying for malaria prevention in Soroti district, Uganda: a cross-sectional study.

Background: Malaria is the leading cause of morbidity and mortality in Uganda. The Ministry of Health (MoH) plans to scale up indoor residual spraying (IRS) for malaria vector control. However, there is limited information on community knowledge and perceptions towards IRS.

HIV incidence and factors associated with seroconversion in a rural community home based counseling and testing program in Eastern Uganda.

We estimated HIV incidence and identified risk factors for seroconversion following a rural community home based HIV counseling and testing program in Uganda. We analyzed data from two rounds of testing at least a year apart. Of 19,401 initially seronegative participants, 106 seroconverted in Round 2.

Strengthening health workforce capacity through work-based training.

Background: Although much attention has been given to increasing the number of health workers, less focus has been directed at developing models of training that address real-life workplace needs. Makerere University School of Public Health (MakSPH) with funding support from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) developed an eight-month modular, in-service work-based training program aimed at strengthening the capacity for monitoring and evaluation (M&E) and continuous quality improvement (CQI) in health service delivery.

Methods: This capacity building program, initiated in 2008, is offered to in-service health professionals working in Uganda.