Community perceptions on demand-side incentives to promote institutional delivery in Oyam district, Uganda: a qualitative study.

Objective: To examine the perceptions of community members and other stakeholders on the use of baby kits and transport vouchers to improve the utilisation of childbirth services.

Design: A qualitative study.

Setting: Oyam district, Uganda.

Thermal Effect of a Woolen Cap in Low Birth Weight Infants During Kangaroo Care.

Background And Objectives: World Health Organization guidelines recommend covering the head during kangaroo mother care (KMC), but the effect of a cap on neonatal thermal control during KMC remains to be defined. Our objective was to assess the effectiveness and safety of a woolen cap in maintaining low birth weight infants (LBWIs) in normal thermal range during KMC.

Methods: Three hundred LBWI candidates for KMC in 3 African hospitals were randomly assigned to KMC with (CAP group) or without (NOCAP group) a woolen cap in a 1:1 ratio during the first week after birth.

Effects of demand-side incentives in improving the utilisation of delivery services in Oyam District in northern Uganda: a quasi-experimental study.

Background: We evaluated the effects and financial costs of two interventions with respect to utilisation of institutional deliveries and other maternal health services in Oyam District in Uganda.

Methods: We conducted a quasi-experimental study involving intervention and comparable/control sub-counties in Oyam District for 12 months (January-December 2014). Participants were women receiving antenatal care, delivery and postnatal care services.

Is a woolen cap effective in maintaining normothermia in low-birth-weight infants during kangaroo mother care? Study protocol for a randomized controlled trial.

Background: Neonatal hypothermia is an important challenge associated with morbidity and mortality. Preventing neonatal hypothermia is important in high-resource countries, but is of fundamental importance in low-resource settings where supportive care is limited. Kangaroo mother care (KMC) is a low-cost intervention that, whenever possible, is strongly recommended for temperature maintenance.

Implementation and Operational Research: Implementation of the WHO 2011 Recommendations for Isoniazid Preventive Therapy (IPT) in Children Living With HIV/AIDS: A Ugandan Experience.

Background: Intensified tuberculosis (TB) case finding and isoniazid preventive therapy (IPT) are strongly recommended for children who are HIV infected. Data are needed to assess the feasibility of the WHO 2011 intensified tuberculosis case finding/IPT clinical algorithm.

Methods: Children who are HIV infected and attending Nsambya Home Care at Nsambya Hospital, Uganda, were screened for TB following WHO recommendations.

Predictors of Treatment Failure in HIV-Positive Children Receiving Combination Antiretroviral Therapy: Cohort Data From Mozambique and Uganda.

Background: Delays detecting treatment failure and switching to second-line combination antiretroviral therapy (cART) are often observed in human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)-infected children of low-middle-income countries (LMIC).

Methods: An observational study included HIV-infected children attending the Beira Central Hospital (Mozambique) and the Nsambya Hospital, Home Care Department (Uganda) evaluated clinical and immunological failure according to World Health Organization (WHO) 2006 guidelines. Baseline predictors for cART failure and for drug substitution were explored in unadjusted and adjusted Cox proportional hazard models.

Viral load detection using dried blood spots in a cohort of HIV-1-infected children in Uganda: correlations with clinical and immunological criteria for treatment failure.

Correlations between clinical/immunological treatment failure and viral load (VL) detected by dried blood spot (DBS) sampling were explored in HIV-1-infected children in Uganda. Of 104 children on combined antiretroviral treatment (cART), 12.5% experienced clinical and/or immunological failure, while 28.

Epstein-Barr virus load in children infected with human immunodeficiency virus type 1 in Uganda.

Background: Epstein-Barr Virus (EBV) is involved in a wide range of malignancies, particularly in immunocompromised subjects. In Africa, EBV primary infection occurs during early childhood, but little is known about the EBV load in Human Immunodeficiency Virus type 1 (HIV-1)-infected children.

Methods: Blood samples from 213 HIV-1-infected children, 140 of whom were receiving antiretroviral therapy (ART), were collected at the Nsambya Hospital in Kampala, Uganda, and obtained for dried blood spot analysis.

Community health workers for ART in sub-Saharan Africa: learning from experience--capitalizing on new opportunities.

Low-income countries with high HIV/AIDS burdens in sub-Saharan Africa must deal with severe shortages of qualified human resources for health. This situation has triggered the renewed interest in community health workers, as they may play an important role in scaling-up antiretroviral treatment for HIV/AIDS by taking over a number of tasks from the professional health workers. Currently, a wide variety of community health workers are active in many antiretroviral treatment delivery sites.