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Search within Central and East Africa, Health, wellbeing and care,
147 results found
Research paper
Beyond solidarity and mutual aid: Tension and conflict in burial groups in rural Uganda
Drawing from ethnographic data collected between 2012 and 2014 and January and June 2018 in Luwero district, Uganda, this article questions the romanticised depiction of burial groups as a means of enhancing social support, a sense of solidarity and mutual…
Research paper
Sensing Sleeping Sickness: Local Symptom-Making in South Sudan
Programs for neglected tropical diseases (NTDs) such as sleeping sickness increasingly involve patients and community workers in syndromic case detection with little exploration of patient understandings of symptoms. Drawing on concepts from sensorial anthropology, I investigate peoples’ experiences of sleeping…
Policy document
Plan Strategique National de Developpement des Services de Laboratoire de Sante 2021-25 fr
The national strategic plan for developing health laboratory services, from 2021 to 2025, focusing in particular on: improving the delivery of laboratory services, supporting the different pillars of laboratory services, and strengthening governance.
Briefing
Rwanda – DRC cross border dynamics fr
This Key Considerations brief concerns cross-border dynamics between Rwanda and DRC, including cross-border relations and political and economic dynamics.
Briefing
Cross-Border Dynamics and Healthcare in West Nile, Uganda
Key considerations concerning cross-border dynamics and health structures and behaviours in the West Nile sub-region of north-west Uganda.
Briefing
Cross Border Dynamics: Burundi-DRC
Key considerations concerning cross-border dynamics between Burundi and DRC including politicisation and armed groups.
Briefing
Cross-Border Dynamics Between South Sudan and DRC fr
Key considerations concerning cross-border dynamics between South Sudan and DRC including borderlands and trade dynamics.
Policy document
Uganda Health Sector Integrated Refugee Response Plan 2019-2024
Written by the Ugandan Ministry of Health, the Health Sector Integrated Refugee Response Plan sets out policies for supplementing service delivery in refugee-hosting communities, to meet the needs of everyone in the targeted areas.
Research paper
Mental health in South Sudan: a case for community-based support
Based on personal reflections of the authors who were engaged in mental health and psychosocial support programmes in South Sudan between 2013 and 2016, this article illustrates the constraints and challenges facing the sector at the time. The authors emphasise…
Research paper
Using feminist ‘reflexive practice’ to explore stress and well-being of local researchers in South Sudan
This article shares key findings and offer personal reflections on and suggestions for improving gender-based violence research using feminist methods. The authors reflect that while they themselves valued the sharing of personal reflections on emotional challenges that the research team…
Research paper
‘A Real Woman Waits’ – Heteronormative Respectability, Neo-Liberal Betterment and Echoes of Coloniality in SGBV Programming in Eastern DR Congo
Drawing on archival and field research, this article critically examines the production and distribution of gender roles and expectations in SGBV programming, in particular in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). We find the underlying currents in some of these…
Research paper
Behind the scenes: International NGOs’ influence on reproductive health policy in Malawi and South Sudan
Global health donors increasingly embrace international non-governmental organisations (INGOs) as partners, often relying on them to conduct political advocacy in recipient countries, especially in controversial policy domains like reproductive health. Although INGOs are the primary recipients of donor funding, they…
Briefing
Cross-Border Dynamics and Healthcare in West Nile, Uganda
Against the backdrop of on-going preparedness work in Uganda as related to the outbreak of Ebola in DRC, this brief summarises key considerations concerning cross-border dynamics and health structures and behaviours in the West Nile sub-region of north-west Uganda. It…
Research paper
Life in the buffer zone: Social relations and surplus health workers in Uganda’s medicines retail sector
Despite their critical role, medicine sellers are often excluded from health systems and policy research. In this paper, we ask ‘what happens to the conceptualisations of a health system when medicine sellers and their practices are foregrounded in research?’ We…
Research paper
Food Insecurity During the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Longitudinal Mixed-Methods Study from a Cohort of HIV Clients in Uganda.
The COVID-19 pandemic threatens the food security of people in low-income countries. This is important for people living with HIV (PLWH) because HIV medication should be taken with food to avoid side-effects. We used survey data (n = 314) and qualitative interviews…
Research paper
Social networks, mobility, and HIV risk among women in the fishing communities of Lake Victoria
A cross-sectional qualitative methods study was conducted to understand mobility patterns among women resident and or working in fishing communities of Lake Victoria in Kenya, Tanzania, and Uganda. The study was conducted in six fishing communities from March 2018 to…
Briefing
Cultural Practices on Burial and Care for the Sick in South Sudan
Literature on cultural practices for burial and care for the sick among individual ethnic groups in South Sudan was very limited. However, it clearly points to the importance of proper burials among all ethnic groups: these typically entail washing the…
Research paper
Understanding Perceptions on ‘Buruli’ in Northwestern Uganda: A Biosocial Investigation
This article explores perspectives on Buruli among fisherfolk in northwestern Uganda along the River Nile, where the ulcer has previously been documented. The findings are based on a long-term ethnographic study of health, healing and illness in this region, and…
Research paper
Violence, Well-Being and Level of Participation in Formal Education among Adolescent Girls in Eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo: The Role of Child Marriage
Child marriage is a well-recognized barrier to education, and exposes girls to an increased risk of violence along with other negative health and developmental outcomes. A quantitative survey was conducted with girls selected from 14 communities in South Kivu, Democratic…
Research paper
Examining diffusion to understand the how of SASA!, a violence against women and HIV prevention intervention in Uganda
A growing number of complex public health interventions combine mass media with community-based “change agents” and/or mobilisation efforts acting at multiple levels. While impact evaluations are important, there is a paucity of research into the more nuanced roles intervention and…
Research paper
“Eat and you will be eaten”: a qualitative study exploring costs and benefits of age-disparate sexual relationships in Tanzania and Uganda: implications for girls’ sexual and reproductive health interventions
Age-disparate sex is associated with increased HIV risk among adolescent girls and young women (AGYW) in sub-Saharan Africa. However, little has been done to understand the dynamics of such relationships from the perspectives of either AGYW or older men, and…
Research paper
“We need good nutrition but we have no money to buy food”: sociocultural context, care experiences, and newborn health in two UNHCR-supported camps in South Sudan
Determinants of newborn health and survival exist across the reproductive life cycle, with many sociocultural and contextual factors influencing outcomes beyond the availability of, and access to, quality health services. To better understand key needs and opportunities to improve newborn…
Research paper
Data value and care value in the practice of health systems: A case study in Uganda
In anthropology, interest in how values are created, maintained and changed has been reinvigorated. We interrogate concerns about relationships between data collection and patient care by following a pilot study in Kayunga, Uganda aimed at improving the collection of health…
Factsheet
Remote response to Ebola outbreak in DRC fr
The Social Science in Humanitarian Action Platform is supporting UNICEF, WHO, IFRC and other partners in the Democratic Republic of Congo to respond to the Ebola outbreak in Equateur Province. The Platform has four key streams of action: 1) Rapid…
Briefing
Knowledge and Practices Related to Plague in an Endemic Area of Uganda
Plague is a virulent zoonosis reported most commonly from Sub-Saharan Africa. Early treatment with antibiotics is important to prevent mortality. Understanding knowledge gaps and common behaviors informs the development of educational efforts to reduce plague mortality. Methods A multi-stage cluster-sampled…
Background report
Rift Valley Fever: A Survey of Knowledge, Attitudes, and Practice of Slaughterhouse Workers and Community Members in Kabale District, Uganda
Rift Valley Fever virus (RVF) is a zoonotic virus in the Phenuiviridae family. RVF outbreaks can cause significant morbidity and mortality in humans and animals. Following the diagnosis of two RVF cases in March 2016 in southern Kabale district, Uganda,…
Thesis
A Gender Analysis of the Democratic Republic of Congo’s Health System Reform: An Opportune Moment to Build a Just and Inclusive Health System
This thesis examines key institutional and structural interventions and reforms in the health system of the DRC for their implications on health experienced by Congolese women from conception to beyond their reproductive years. This thesis suggests that healthcare reform efforts…
Research paper
Maternal Psychological Distress and Perceived Impact on Child Feeding Practices in South Kivu, DR Congo
Maternal mental health problems are associated with poor child growth and suboptimal child feeding practices, yet little qualitative research has been conducted to understand mothers’ perceptions about how maternal mental ill health and child nutrition are related. This study among…
Research paper
Men’s perceptions of women’s reproductive health in South Sudan
This paper draws on a qualitative study (n = 52) and applies a political ecology of health framework to examine men’s perceptions of women’s reproductive health in South Sudan. The findings suggest that political practices of place making configure men’s views of…
Research paper
Community perspectives on the extent to which transactional sex is viewed as sexual exploitation in Central Uganda
Sexual exploitation violates children’s rights and exposes them to harm, but there exist differences in views of behaviour that is considered sexually exploitative, including transactional sex. This paper explores community perspectives on transactional sex and exploitation in two communities in…
Research paper
“If he could speak, he would be able to point out who does those things to him”: Experiences of violence and access to child protection among children with disabilities in Uganda and Malawi
While child protection mechanisms to prevent and respond to violence are slowly operationalised in low- and- middle-income countries, little is known about whether existing mechanisms are disability-inclusive. The aim of this study, which took place in Malawi and Kamuli district…
Research paper
“Not Taking it Will Just be Like a Sin”: Young People Living with HIV and the Stigmatization of Less-Than-Perfect Adherence to Antiretroviral Therapy
Global health priorities are being set to address questions on adherence to HIV antiretroviral therapy in adolescence. Few studies have explored young people’s perspectives on the complex host of social and relational challenges they face in dealing with their treatment…
Research paper
Spatial accessibility to basic public health services in South Sudan
This article develops a GIS model of spatial health access metrics nationally and sub-nationally in South Sudan. Using publicly available data on health facilities, population, land cover and use, road networks and elevation, the authors found that in 2016 only…
Research paper
Poisoning at the periphery: allocating responsibility across the Uganda/South Sudan borderlands
This paper presents ethnographic evidence from three sites across the Uganda/South Sudan borderlands. At each location, procedures to identify alleged poisoners were documented. Novel voting processes were initiated by hybrid local authorities. Addressing widespread anxiety about proximate wrong-doing seemed to…
Research paper
How Seasonality and Weather affect Perinatal Health: Comparing the Experiences of indigenous and Non-Indigenous Mothers in Kanungu District, Uganda
Maternal and newborn health disparities and impacts of climate change present grand challenges for global health equity, and there remain knowledge gaps on how these challenges intersect. This study examines how mothers are affected by seasonal and meteorological factors in…
Research paper
Participatory Ethnographic Evaluation and Research: Reflections on the Research Approach Used to Understand the Complexity of Maternal Health Issues in South Sudan
How can contextualised data be collected in a short time in conflict-affected sites? This paper shows how a Participatory Ethnographic Evaluation and Research (PEER) approach can overcome many of the challenges of conducting research in such conditions. Here, the authors…
