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147 results found
Research paper
Deworming Delusions? Mass Drug Administration in East African Schools
Recent debates about deworming school-aged children in East Africa have been described as the ‘Worm Wars’. The stakes are high. Deworming has become one of the top priorities in the fight against infectious diseases. Staff at the World Health Organization,…
Research paper
Low Prevalence of Intestinal Schistosomiasis Among Fisherfolk Living Along the River Nile in North-Western Uganda: a Biosocial Investigation
This article asks: why is the prevalence of S. mansoni so low among fisherfolk in northern Uganda? Taking a biosocial approach, it suggests that the mass distribution of drugs, free of charge, has had an impact. However, the low prevalence…
Research paper
Gender relations and women’s reproductive health in South Sudan
Drawing on Connell’s relational theory of gender, the authors of this study conducted focus group discussion and interviews with Fertit women in South Sudan concerning their ability to control their reproductive lives. Women reported little choice over the childbearing demands…
Research paper
Stigmatisation and rejection of survivors of sexual violence in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo
Studies report that between 6 per cent and 29 per cent of survivors of sexual violence in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) are rejected by their families and communities. This research project was designed to provide insights into…
Research paper
Routines, Hope, and Antiretroviral Treatment among Men and Women in Uganda
Antiretroviral treatment programs, despite biomedical emphases, require social understanding and transformations to be successful. In this article, the authors draw from a qualitative study of HIV treatment seeking to examine the drug-taking routines and health-related subjectivities of men and women…
Report
“Our Hearts Have Gone Dark”: The Mental Health Impact of South Sudan’s Conflict
This report by Amnesty International describes the serious and significant mental health impact of South Sudan’s conflict to highlight the urgency for more attention and resources to improve the availability, accessibility, and quality of mental health services in the country.…
Research paper
Barriers to Institutional Childbirth in Rumbek North County, South Sudan: A Qualitative Study
South Sudan has one of the world’s poorest health indicators due to a fragile health system and a combination of socio-cultural, economic and political factors. This paper reports on a study conducted to identify barriers to utilisation of institutional childbirth…
Research paper
Building the nation’s body: The contested role of abortion and family planning in postwar south Sudan
This paper offers an ethnographic analysis of public health policies and interventions targeting unwanted pregnancy (family planning and abortion) in contemporary South Sudan as part of wider ‘nation-building’ after war, understood as a process of collective identity formation which projects…
Policy document
Republic of South Sudan National Health Policy 2016-2026
Written by the Ministry of Health of the Republic of South Sudan, the National Health Policy 2016-2026 puts forth new paradigms for health service delivery, health financing, strategic information, leadership and governance, human resources for health, and access to essential…
Research paper
When community reintegration is not the best option: interethnic violence and the trauma of parental loss in South Sudan
Challenging the received wisdom that community reintegration is always better than institutional provision, this case study argues that institutional care of orphans should not always be considered only as a last resort but may offer greater care and protection than…
Research paper
Too afraid to go: fears of dignity violations as reasons for non-use of maternal health services in South Sudan
South Sudan has one of the worst health and maternal health situations in the world. While maternal health services at primary care level are not well developed, even where they exist, many women do not use them. Developing location specific…
Research paper
Introducing rapid diagnostic tests for malaria into registered drug shops in Uganda: lessons learned and policy implications
Malaria is a major public health problem in Uganda. Current policy recommends introduction of rapid diagnostic tests (RDTs) to facilitate effective case management. However, provision of RDTs in drug shops raises new issues, such as adherence to RDTs results, management…
Research paper
Justice at the Margins: Witches, Poisoners, and Social Accountability in Northern Uganda
Recent responses to people alleged to be ‘witches’ or ‘poisoners’ among the Madi of northern Uganda are compared with those of the 1980s. From 2006, a democratic system for dealing with suspects was introduced, whereby those receiving the highest number…
Research paper
Challenging the Paradigm: Anthropological Perspectives on HIV as a Chronic Disease
Recently HIV has been framed as a ‘manageable’ chronic disease in contexts in which access to effective care is reliable. The chronic disease paradigm emphasizes self-care, biomedical disease management, social normalization, and uncertainty. Data from a longitudinal study of patients…
Research paper
Deadly Flies, Poor Profits, and Veterinary Pharmaceuticals: Sustaining the Control of Sleeping Sickness in Uganda
Efforts to control neglected tropical diseases have increasingly focused on questions of implementation. But how should we conceptualize the implementation process? Drawing on ethnographic fieldwork between 2010 and 2012, in this article I explore efforts by a small-scale public–private partnership…
Research paper
The Priest’s Soldiers: HIV Therapies, Health Identities, and Forced Encampment in Northern Uganda
In this article, I analyze how antiretroviral therapy and associated HIV support programs engendered HIV-based health identities in displacement camps in conflict-affected northern Uganda. Drawing on multisited ethnographic fieldwork I conducted between 2006 and 2009, I argue that these health…
Research paper
Providing health services during a civil war: the experience of a garrison town in South Sudan
This article explores the social and political dynamics of health service provision in and around an important garrison town in South Sudan, during the second Sudanese civil war (1983–2005). Drawing on semi-structured interviews, informal conversations and focus group discussions, the…
Research paper
Challenging logics of complex intervention trials: community perspectives of a health care improvement intervention in rural Uganda
Health systems in many African countries are failing to provide populations with access to good quality health care. The PRIME trial in Tororo, rural Uganda, designed and tested an intervention to improve care at health centres, with the aim of…
Research paper
Aspirations for quality health care in Uganda: How do we get there?
Despite significant investments and reforms, health care remains poor for many in Africa. To design an intervention to improve access and quality of health care at health facilities in eastern Uganda, we aimed to understand local priorities for qualities in…
Policy document
Loi cadre sur l’Organisation de la Santé Publique fr
The legal basis for public health action in DRC, grounded in the right to health guaranteed by the DRC constitution.
Research paper
Quests for Therapy in Northern Uganda: Healing at Laropi Revisited
This article presents a case of diachronic ethnography. It examines quests for therapy among the Madi people of northern Uganda. It is based on ethnographic fieldwork carried out in and around the small trading centre of Laropi; originally in the…
Research paper
Border Parasites: Schistosomiasis Control among Uganda’s Fisherfolk
It is recognized that the control of schistosomisais in Uganda requires a focus on fisherfolk. Large numbers suffer from this water-borne parasitic disease; notably along the shores of lakes Albert and Victoria and along the River Nile. Since 2004, a…
Research paper
‘It puts life in us and we feel big’: shifts in the local health care system during the introduction of rapid diagnostic tests for malaria into drug shops in Uganda
This paper is an analysis of the social interaction between drug sellers, their clients and local health care workers within a medical trial that introduced rapid diagnostic tests for malaria into private sector drug shops in Mukono District, Uganda. It…
Research paper
The ‘Other Diseases’ of the Millennium Development Goals: Rhetoric and Reality of Free Drug Distribution to Cure the Poor’s Parasites
A massive programme is now underway to treat the parasites of the poor in Africa via integrated vertical interventions of mass drug administration in endemic areas. The approach has been hailed as remarkably effective, with claims that there is now…
Research paper
Sexual and gender based violence against men in the Democratic Republic of Congo: effects on survivors, their families and the community
Media and service provider reports of sexual and gender based violence (SGBV) perpetrated against men in armed conflicts have increased. However, response to these reports has been limited, as existing evidence and programs have primarily focused on prevention and response…
Research paper
Challenges of controlling sleeping sickness in areas of violent conflict: experience in the Democratic Republic of Congo
Human African trypanosomiasis (HAT), or sleeping sickness, is a fatal neglected tropical disease if left untreated. HAT primarily affects people living in rural sub-Saharan Africa, often in regions afflicted by violent conflict. Screening and treatment of HAT is complex and…
Research paper
Dynamics of Care, Situations of Choice: HIV Tests in Times of ART
In the 1990s, African AIDS programs followed a voluntary counseling and testing (VCT) approach to HIV testing. In the wake of large scale AIDS treatment programs, policymakers opted for routine provider-initiated testing (PITC) with less emphasis on counseling, which led…
Research paper
National policy development for cotrimoxazole prophylaxis in Malawi, Uganda and Zambia: the relationship between Context, Evidence and Links
Several frameworks exist to analyse factors which influence the uptake of evidence into policy processes in resource poor settings, yet empirical analyses of health policy making in these settings are relatively rare. National policy making for cotrimoxazole preventive therapy in…
Research paper
Task shifting for tuberculosis control: A qualitative study of community-based directly observed therapy in urban Uganda
This qualitative study of task shifting examined tuberculosis (TB) therapy under modified community-based directly observed treatment short-course (CB-DOTS) in Kampala, Uganda. The authors recommend an intervention evaluating this modified DOTS strategy on a larger scale in TB high-burden, resource-poor urban…
Background report
Infection Control During Filoviral Hemorrhagic Fever Outbreaks: Preferences of Community Members and Health Workers in Masindi, Uganda
Interviews were conducted with health workers and community members in Masindi, Uganda on improving the acceptability of infection control measures used during an Ebola outbreak. Measures that promote cultural sensitivity and transparency of control activities were preferred and should be…
Does Mass Drug Administration for the Integrated Treatment of Neglected Tropical Diseases really work? Assessing Evidence for the Control of Schistosomiasis and Soil-Transmitted Helminths in Uganda
Less is known about mass drug administration [MDA] for neglected tropical diseases [NTDs] than is suggested by those so vigorously promoting expansion of the approach. This paper fills an important gap: it draws upon local level research to examine the…
Research paper
Health Sector Recovery in Early Post-Conflict Environments: Experience from Southern Sudan
Health sector recovery in post-conflict settings presents an opportunity for reform: analysis of policy processes can provide useful lessons. The case of southern Sudan is assessed through interviews, literature review, and by drawing on experiences of former technical advisers to…
Research paper
Moral distress among Ugandan nurses providing HIV care: A critical ethnography
The phenomenon of moral distress among nurses has been described in a variety of high-income countries and practice settings. No research has been reported that addresses moral distress in severely resource-challenged regions such as sub-Saharan Africa. Through critical ethnography, this…
Research paper
Introducing malaria rapid diagnostic tests at registered drug shops in Uganda: Limitations of diagnostic testing in the reality of diagnosis
In Uganda, around two thirds of medicines are procured from the private sector, mostly from drug shops. The introduction of malaria rapid diagnostic tests (RDTs) at drug shops therefore has the potential to make a significant contribution to targeting antimalarial…
Research paper
Traditional healers for HIV/AIDS prevention and family planning, Kiboga District, Uganda: evaluation of a program to improve practices
South Sudan has one of the worst health and maternal health situations in the world. While maternal health services at primary care level are not well developed, even where they exist, many women do not use them. Developing location specific…
Research paper
The Violence of Healing
This essay discusses violence and healing in response to war, drawing attention to the idea that violence and healing are often closely interconnected, and what may be judged to be violent acts can be expected to play a crucial role…
