Assessing the Influence of Social Networking Material on Adolescents’ Sexual Behavior in Kampala

Background: Social media has been used to promote risky sexual behavior in form of unsolicited photos, videos and text from peers and strangers that is not regulated by parents or guardians. Therefore, it’s important to investigate the influence of social networking material on adolescents‘ sexual behavior in Ugandan in order to close the knowledge gap. Adolescents in Uganda may be at risk of indulging in risky sexual behavior if usage of social networking sites remains unrestricted. Methods: A cross sectional study was conducted among 280 randomly selected adolescents in Kampala between August and October 2016. Results: Majority (68.9%) of the respondents thought that messages, photos, videos with sexual content shared/posted on social networking sites, changed their sexual behavior. Variables that were found to significantly explain the effect of exposure of social network  content on adolescent sexual behavior, among adolescents included: Gender (male) (OR 2.646, 95% CI 1.088-6.434, use of social networking sites during holidays (OR 2.581, 95% CI .836-7.965) and social sites being used for leisure activities (OR 4.516, 95% CI 1.232-16.548). Conclusion: Parents may need to restrict access and use sexual content especially pictures and videos available on social networking site among the adolescents. Key words: Adolescent, social networking sites, change, sexual behavio

Assessment of the Readiness and Availability of Palliative Care Services in Hospitals in Kampala, Uganda

Background: In Uganda, there are approximately 350,000 patients with illnesses needing palliative care (Merriman, Mwebesa & Katabira, 2012) and among whom 210,000 persons in painare in urgent need of Palliative care (American Cancer Society, 2014).Further, palliative care was introduced to improve the quality of life of patients and their families who are facing problems associated with life-threatening illness, whether physical, psychosocial or spiritual (Temel, 2010). More still, palliative care reduces unnecessary hospital admissions and the use of health services. However, the use of morphine and other controlled medicines that are essential for palliative careare overly restricted by regulations thereby hindering access to adequate pain relief and palliative care. Furthermore,palliative care has been incorporated into the Uganda’s Health Sector Strategic and Investment Plans but has been hampered by minimal resources and huge shortages of health workers. Further, Uganda has one of the most rapid growth of palliative care in Africa as well as the only country in sub-Saharan Africa graded as having “Stage 4” comprehensive palliative care according to the Global Atlas of Palliative Care (Worldwide Palliative Care Alliance, 2014). Additionally, Uganda was ranked 35th out of 80 countries for the Quality of death Index (Economist Intelligence Unit, 2015). Despite these accolades, hospital based palliative care is not universally available throughout the country. In 2014 the Ministry of Health provided only 103 million Uganda shillings for development of Palliative care in its national budget. This is a small amount to share, and as most hospitals received very little funding for palliative care, it is likely that hospital medical superintendents used discretionary funds to provide the service (O’Brien et al., 2013). Therefore, the objective of this study was to assess the readiness and availability of palliative Care services in hospitals in Kampala, Uganda from April, 2016 to June, 2016. Methods: A cross sectional study design was used. Results: The study found that 7 of the 27 hospitals (26%) were offering palliative care, 6 (22%) had a specialized staff offering palliative care and only 5 (19%) had a staff designated to coordinate palliative care services. Overall, the level of  readiness to provide palliative care was found to be very low with only 3 of the 27 hospitals (11%) demonstrating readiness as per the set criteria (availability of pain medication in stock, availability of morphine in stock and availability of a healthcare worker to provide palliative care). Conclusion: Readiness and availability of palliative care services is very low among hospitals in Kampala. Keywords: Palliative Care, Morphine, Readiness, Availabilit

Assessment of Menstrual Hygiene Management Among Karamojong Adolescent Girls in Rupa Sub-County, Moroto District

Background: Menstrual hygiene and management is insufficiently acknowledged since it has not received adequate attention, in most cases because it is considered a private issue that's rarely open to discussion making it difficult for girls to manage their periods. This leaves them at high risk of contracting diseases related to poor menstrual management. Methods: A cross-sectional study involving both quantitative and qualitative data collection techniques was conducted in Rupa Sub-County, Moroto district between August and October 2016 and a total of 133 adolescent girls were interviewed. Descriptive statistics, Chi-square and Odd ratios tests were used for analysis to assess the menstrual hygiene management. Results: Mean age of respondents was 17.03±2.121 years; respondents going to school were 5.9 times more likely to practice safe menstrual hygiene management (p-value 0.000), half (50.4%) of the adolescent girls had no education (p-value 0.000), 38.3 % of the girls did not know what to do during menstruation (p-value 0.000), respondents who agreed that it is ideal to bath at least twice during menstruation were 2.9 times more likely to practice safe menstrual hygiene management (p-vaue-0.024), less than half (28.6%) of the respondents were not sure whether it is hygienic to use material for less than 6 hours during menstruation (p-value 0.000), while slightly three quarters (61.7%) of adolescent girls used old rags during menstruation, 48.1% of the respondents agreed that there are cultural factors attached to menstrual hygiene management (0.000). Conclusion: Menstrual hygiene management is still a very big challenge among adolescent girls in Moroto district; various factors were identified to affect menstrual behaviors most influential being lack of adequate knowledge, Socio-economic status of participants and cultural factors. Keywords: Adolescent, Menarche, Menstruation, Menstrual hygiene, Taboos, Safe menstrual & unsafe menstrual practices