Publications by authors named "Savio Mwaka"
Article Synopsis
- Infectious diseases contribute to a significant portion of under-five mortality in low- and middle-income countries, and clinical prediction models like Smart Triage can help identify critically ill infants to improve care.
- A study aimed to externally validate the Smart Triage model using data from Uganda and Kenya, finding it performed better for children over one month than for neonates.
- After adjusting for neonate-specific thresholds, the model showed improved predictive accuracy, suggesting it could be incorporated into local healthcare guidelines, though further validation is necessary.
Transitions from hospital to home: A mixed methods study to evaluate pediatric discharges in Uganda.
PLOS Glob Public Health
September 2023
The World Health Organization (WHO) Integrated Management of Childhood Illness (IMCI) guidelines recognize the importance of discharge planning to ensure continuation of care at home and appropriate follow-up. However, insufficient attention has been paid to post discharge planning in many hospitals contributing to poor implementation. To understand the reasons for suboptimal discharge, we evaluated the pediatric discharge process from hospital admission through the transition to care within the community in Ugandan hospitals.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Preterm birth is the leading cause of neonatal deaths and the second leading cause of death in children under five after pneumonia. The study aimed at improving the management of preterm birth through the development of protocols for standardization of care.
Methods: The study was conducted in Mulago National Referral Labor ward in two phases.
Background: To improve management of severely ill hospitalized patients in low-income settings, the World Health Organization (WHO) established a triage tool called "Quick Check" to provide clinicians with a rapid, standardized approach to identify patients with severe illness based on recognition of abnormal vital signs. Despite the availability of these guidelines, recognition of severe illness remains challenged in low-income settings, largely as a result of infrequent vital sign monitoring.
Methods: We conducted a staggered, pre-post quasi-experimental study at four inpatient health facilities in western Uganda to assess the impact of a multi-modal intervention for improving quality of care following formal training on WHO "Quick Check" guidelines for diagnosis of severe illness in low-income settings.