Preparedness, Identification and Care of COVID-19 Cases by Front Line Health Workers in Selected Health Facilities in Mbale District Uganda: A Cross-Sectional Study

Introduction: The nature of work of Health care professionals exposes them to high risks of contracting COVID-19 and spreading it among themselves, to their patients and subsequently to the general community. Thus, it is essential that frontline health workers are equipped with both material and knowledge to enable them accurately suspect, detect, isolate, and manage COVID-19 cases. Findings have indicated a high prevalence of COVID-19 infections among front-line health workers. The Current Study assessed preparedness, identification, and care of COVID-19 Cases by frontline health workers in selected health facilities in Mbale District.Methodology: Across sectional survey was used to collect quantitative data using Google forms, An online platform for data collection. Data was collected from 189 frontline health workers in both government and private Health facilities in Mbale District between April and August 2020. Data was analysed using Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) version 20.Findings: The study found that a good proportion of frontline health workers can identify cases by symptom and case definitions as probable case 113/189(59.8%), suspected case 60/189(36%) and confirmed case 22/189 (11.6%).There were generally low levels of preparedness in terms of initial service care being offered with the highest being 53/189(28.2%) and 50/189(26.4%) for facilities that had places for isolation and those with intravenous fluids respectively and the least was being able to offer oxygen and Intensive Care Services at 43/189(22.0%) and 20/189(10.3%) respectively.Conclusion and recommendations: There’s a need to ensure a continuous supply of PPEs and IPC materials to health facilities. CPD programs are essential in equipping Health workers with up-to-date information on COVID-19 Case Management. Facilities should be supported to setup isolation facilities at all levels, both permanent and temporary. Provision of Face masks to health workers should be prioritised and hand washing facilities should be installed at every serving point

Addressing gaps in AMR awareness in the public: an evidence-based policy brief to guide school curriculum review in Uganda

The government of Uganda, through its Ministry of Health, previously adopted curriculum review as a mechanism to respond to public health threats such as HIV/AIDS and include content in primary and secondary schools. This approach contributes to raising public awareness, a key strategy recommended by the World Health Organization to support the global response to the threat of antimicrobial resistance (AMR). This policy brief, developed for policymakers related to school curricula, aims to advocate for and support integration of AMR content in Uganda's primary and secondary level school curricula. The policy brief supports efforts by the multisectoral National AMR Subcommittee to create awareness on this issue as part of its role in facilitating the operationalization of Uganda's National Action Plan on AMR

Knowledge About Hand Hygiene among Medical Students and Nursing Students in Masaka Regional Referral Hospital

Aim: The pathogenic bacterium on the hands of healthcare workers (HCWs) is considered as the main route of spreadof hospital-acquired infections. This study determines the knowledge regarding hand hygiene among medical andnursing students in a Regional Referral Hospital.Material and Methods: 100 students participated in the study. Data was collected using the World Health Organizationhand hygiene knowledge questionnaire (revised 2009). The questionnaire contains questions on the participant’sdemographics, formal training in hand hygiene and questions to assess hand hygiene knowledge. Descriptive statisticsof the variables were computed as Mean±SD and frequencies (n, %). The relationships between the categoricalvariables were investigated by using Pearson Chi-Square test. Also independent-samples t-test were used to investigatethe difference between groups with regard to numerical variables. In all calculations, P< 0.05 is considered as the levelof statistical significance. Statistical analysis was performed using SPSS 20 (IBM SPSS statistics, Somers, NY).Results: 90.8% of the students reported receiving formal training in hand hygiene. However only 2% of the studentshad good knowledge, 74% moderate knowledge and 24% low knowledge about hand hygiene. The study did not findany significant difference in the knowledge level between the students who had received formal training in handhygiene and those who had not (p=0.392). Also, the mean knowledge score was not associated with gender (p=0.82), orprofession (p=0.179).Conclusion: It is of importance to devise effective teaching methods that will help the students retain the knowledge onhand hygiene

The Nairobi Declaration—Reducing the burden of dementia in low‐ and middle‐income countries (LMICs): Declaration of the 2022 Symposium on Dementia and Brain Aging in LMICs

[No abstract available