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Jul 2020 DOI 10.14302/issn.2693-1176.ijgh-20-3489
Mango LucioCorresponding author
Head for Higher Education in Healthcare, University of International Studies (UNINT) – Rome, Italy
The right to health and access to health care are basic human rights, yet the relationship between poverty, marginalization and access to services is often misunderstood or overlooked in health policies and in development actions. To build equitable health systems a rights-based approach to reform and planning is needed. This involves a wide range of interventions, all of which should ensure that investments in the health system will bring benefits to all members of society, especially the poorest and most marginalized
Feb 2019 DOI 10.14302/issn.2641-4538.jphi-19-2589
Ahmadou Diallo AlphaCorresponding author
Ministry of Health
Several studies show that policies to improve maternal and infant health must be contextualised within broader questions and commitments concerning women’s empowerment. There are, however, two-way linkages between women’s empowerment and reproductive services. Certain institutional approaches that support women’s reproductive health can themselves be experienced as empowering whereas others, however well-meaning, can be experienced as disempowering, undermining health and broader goals. It is thus important to discern and support those elements of reproductive services that might have empowerment outcomes, and to avoid others that undermine them. This paper is premised on the hypothesis that approaches to reproductive health that are rooted in women’s life worlds, that support women’s social networks and which enhance women’s confidence and control will have very different empowerment effect from those that subordinate women and their networks to external expertise and (often male) authority and undermine women’s preferences or autonomy. We (a) conduct an audit of positive practices concerning maternal and child health and (b) examine how current support to maternal and infant health articulates with this. Analysis seeks to reposition indigenous knowledge, community wisdom and their secular practices in a way that promotes better health provision that is integrated with these existing practices and that is empowering.
Jul 2025 DOI 10.14302/issn.2577-137X.ji-25-5581
Muthee Waweru EdmondCorresponding author
Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) placed significant pressure on global health systems, necessitating rapid and widespread immunization, especially among healthcare workers (HCWs). Despite being prioritized in immunization programs, variations in vaccine uptake among HCWs have been reported across different settings. This study aimed to investigate the predictors of COVID-19 vaccine uptake among HCWs in Kiambu County, Kenya. An analytical cross-sectional study design was employed, involving 112 HCWs sampled using stratified random sampling from Level 2 to Level 5 healthcare facilities. Data were collected through a pre-tested and validated 18-item questionnaire and analyzed using SPSS version 29.0. Statistical methods included descriptive analysis, chi-square tests, logistic regression, and ANOVA. The overall COVID-19 vaccine uptake was 88.9%. Significant predictors of uptake included age (p = 0.048), cadre (p = 0.015), and facility level (p = 0.031). Knowledge of COVID-19 vaccines emerged as the strongest predictor, with HCWs demonstrating good-to-excellent knowledge being 14.97 times more likely to be vaccinated (p < 0.001). Confidence in vaccine safety and effectiveness was also significantly associated with uptake (p < 0.001). Uptake was highest in Level 5 hospitals and lowest in dispensaries. The study reveals high vaccine uptake among HCWs in Kiambu County, but disparities persist due to individual and systemic factors. Strengthening vaccine education, institutional support, and deploying mobile vaccine education units in lower-level facilities could help close these gaps, offering practical strategies for improving HCW vaccine coverage in Kenya and other low- and middle-income countries.
Apr 2021 DOI 10.14302/issn.2641-4538.jphi-21-3776
Uwizeyimana TheogeneCorresponding author
Mount Kenya University, School of Health Sciences, Department of Public Health, P.O. Box 5826, Kigali Campus, Rwanda
COVID-19 has unprecedentedly shaken the health systems across the globe. Rwanda, a low-income country in East Africa, has succeeded to contain the first wave but is struggling to curb the second wave in the wait for a massive vaccination program. The national committee composed of different ministries and a COVID-19 Joint Task Force was established as a Multi-sectoral approach in the early days of the pandemic. The approach together with transparent communication to the population has been effective. However, much more tailored and cost-effective measures against the drivers of cluster outbreaks are needed to save both the economy and more lives. It is challenging to produce evidence about behaviors attributable to the surge of infections, and their hardship, and how to allow the population to live their lives with less risk. With important research, policymakers will be able to think locally and provide easy and inexpensive recommended behaviors while awaiting the vaccine.
Jun 2020 DOI 10.14302/issn.2641-4538.jphi-20-3442
Cameron Y. S. LeeCorresponding author
The Covid-19 pandemic has swept rapidly from Wuhan, China to the entire globe in less than six months, infecting over 7 million people and claiming the lives of over 500,000. In the United States, greater than 2 million individuals have become infected and over 110,000 people killed. With no evidence of slowing of the coronavirus that causes Covid-19, public health authorities must prepare for possible sustained transmission of Covid-19, or a second wave into the Fall 2020, but with the presence of the influenza A virus. In the Fall 2020, schools will reopen from kindergarten to 12th grade. Dual pandemics or epidemics will result in high morbidity and mortality not observed when either virus was solely active. Community leaders, educational administrators and public health systems must be prepared for simultaneous outbreaks of both Covid-19 and influenza. Although there are no clinical studies that have evaluated the benefits on the use of face masks during an epidemic or pandemic, public health non-pharmaceutical intervention (NPIs) measures should include the routine use of face masks during school sessions. Using face masks with other NPI may interrupt viral transmission as it has been established that respiratory viruses, such as Covid-19 and the influenza virus are transmitted via respiratory droplets, aerosols, and environmental surface contact.
Nov 2017 DOI 10.14302/issn.2641-5526.jmid-17-1762
F. Phillips JamesCorresponding author
Columbia University Medical Center, Heilbrunn Department of Population and Family Health, Mailman School of Public Health, 60 Haven Avenue, B-2 ,New York, NY 10032 USA
Despite widespread use of Geographic Information System (GIS) technology to strengthening health systems, the application of GIS to health systems strengthening in resource-poor Sub-Saharan Africa remains rare. Over the June 2012 to December 2013 period, the Ghana Health Service (GHS) conducted a pilot application of GIS to health systems development in one rural impoverished district of the Upper East Region (UER). Workers were deployed to gather coordinates of health care facilities throughout the UER. Coordinates were linked to routine health information data, and utilized to generate maps for guiding task prioritization. For example, geocoded Community-based Management of Severe Acute Malnutrition (CMAM) program data were used to target services in communities where the prevalence of childhood acute malnutrition was relatively high. GIS was pivotal in tracking and responding to infectious disease morbidity from causes such as diarrheal diseases and tuberculosis. UER Regional Health Administration (RHA) authorities are currently utilizing GIS to map antenatal care coverage, skilled birth deliveries, neonatal mortality, still births, family planning service caseloads as well as for targeting programmatic action. Experience emerging from this trial attests to the value of GIS in contributing to efforts to strengthen health systems in rural impoverished regions of Africa.