Immunisation coverage among children born to HIV-infected women in Rakai district, Uganda: Effect of voluntary testing and counselling (VCT)
To evaluate the impact of maternal HIV-infection on routine childhood Immunisation coverage, we compared the immunisation status of children born to HIV-infected and HIV-uninfected women in rural Uganda. The study population was 214 HIV(+) and 578 HIV(-) women with children aged 6 to 35 months previously enrolled in a community study to evaluate maternal and […]
Exploring new health markets: Experiences from informal providers of transport for maternal health services in Eastern Uganda
Background: Although a number of intermediate transport initiatives have been used in some developing countries, available evidence reveals a dearth of local knowledge on the effect of these rural informal transport mechanisms on access to maternal health care services, the cost of implementing such schemes and their scalability. This paper, attempts to provide insights into […]
Unmarried Adolescents’ Experiences of Using Reproductive and Maternal Health Services in Nigeria and Uganda: A Qualitative Study
Adolescents’ access and use of reproductive and maternal health (RMH) services is a critical part of the global strategy for achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). How-ever, previous studies have shown that a complex range of factors, including restrictive policies and punitive laws, limit adolescents from accessing a full range of RMH services in Sub-Saharan […]
Factors associated with the timing and number of antenatal care visits among unmarried compared to married youth in uganda between 2006 and 2016
Antenatal care is an important determinant of pregnancy and childbirth outcomes. Al-though the youth disproportionately experience adverse maternal complications and poor pregnancy outcomes, including maternal mortality, timely and frequent use of antenatal care services among unmarried youth in Uganda remains low. This study examines the factors that are important predic-tors of the use of antenatal […]
Ethnicity, gender, and migration status: Applying intersectionality methodology to explore barriers to equitable health systems for maternal and newborn health among immigrant populations in Masindi, Uganda
Globally, 298,000 women die due to pregnancy related causes and half of this occurs in Africa. In Uganda, maternal mortality has marginally reduced from 526 to 336 per 100,000 live births between 2001 and 2016. Health facility delivery is an important factor in improving maternal and neonatal outcomes. However, the concept of using a skilled […]
Barriers and strategies needed to improve maternal health services among pregnant adolescents in Uganda: a qualitative study
Background: In Uganda, the uptake of maternal health services is very low, with only 41.1% of pregnant adolescent girls attending the eight antenatal visits that are recommended by the World Health Organisation. Uptake of maternal health services is essential in reducing the current level of adolescent pregnancies as well as its adverse effects on adolescent […]
Emergency obstetric care as the priority intervention to reduce maternal mortality in Uganda
Purpose: We conducted a survey to determine availability of emergency obstetric care (EmOC) to provide baseline data for monitoring provision of obstetric care services in Uganda. Methods: The survey, covering 54 districts and 553 health facilities, assessed availability of EmOC signal functions. Following this, performance improvement process was implemented in 20 district hospitals to scale-up […]
Challenges in accessing maternal and child health services during COVID-19 and the potential role of social networking technologies
Background: The COVID-19 pandemic causes new challenges to women and their babies who still need to access postnatal care amidst the crisis. The novel application of social network technologies (SNTs) could potentially enhance access to healthcare during this difficult time. Objectives: This study describes the challenges experienced in accessing maternal and child health services by […]
Dimensions of women empowerment on access to antenatal care in Uganda: A further analysis of the Uganda demographic health survey 2016
Background: Women empowerment has been viewed as a good strategy in the reduction of global maternal morbidity and mortality. Most of the recent studies in Uganda have focussed on antenatal care (ANC) frequency and the associated factors with no focus on the effect of women empowerment. Our study aims at examining the prevalence of optimal […]
Maternal health care in five sub-Saharan African countries
This paper examines inequalities in access to maternal health care services and identifies demographic and socio-economic factors associated with poor maternal health outcomes using data from five Demographic and Health Surveys conducted in Ghana (2003), Kenya (2003), Nigeria (2003), Uganda (2000-2001) and Zambia (2001-2002). The six maternal health care indicators show that rural women are […]
