scholarly journals Impact of COVID-19 public health restrictions on older people in Uganda: ‘Hunger is really one of those problems brought by this COVID’

2020 ◽  
pp. 1-15
Author(s):  
Clarissa Giebel ◽  
Bwire Ivan ◽  
Philomena Burger ◽  
Isaac Ddumba
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Older Adults ◽  
Health Care ◽  
Healthcare Services ◽  
Structured Interview ◽  
Health Care Utilisation ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Security Guards ◽  
Care Utilisation ◽  
The Impact

Abstract Objectives: To explore the impact of COVID-19 related public health restrictions on the lives of older adults living in Uganda. Design: Qualitative semi-structured interview study Setting: Participants’ homes Participants: Older adults living in Uganda (aged 60+) Measurements: Older adults in Uganda were interviewed over the phone and asked about their lives before and since COVID-19, and how public health restrictions have affected their lives. Semi-structured interviews were audio-recorded, transcribed and translated into English. Transcripts were thematically analysed and themes generated in discussion. Results: 30 older adults participated in the study. Five themes were identified: (1) Economic impacts; (2) Lack of access to basic necessities; (3) Impact on health care utilisation; (4) Social impacts; and (5) Violent reinforcement of public health restrictions. COVID-public health restrictions had severe impacts on their lives, with many people having not enough food to eat due to lack of income, and being unable to pay their grandchildren’s school fees. Steep rises in public transport fares and an overall avoidance of transport also resulted in a lack of access to healthcare services and difficulty in getting food. Restrictions were violently reinforced by security guards. Conclusions: Public health restrictions have a severe impact not only on older adults, but the whole family in Uganda. Governmental strategies to contain the virus need to provide more support to enable people to get basic necessities and live as normal a life as possible.

scholarly journals The Impact of Population-Based Disease Management Services on Health Care Utilisation and Costs: Results of the CAPICHe Trial

2018 ◽  
Vol 34 (1) ◽  
pp. 41-48 ◽  
Author(s):  
Paul A. Scuffham ◽  
Joshua M. Byrnes ◽  
Christine Pollicino ◽  
David Cross ◽  
Stan Goldstein ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Health Care ◽  
Disease Management ◽  
Population Based ◽  
Health Care Utilisation ◽  
Care Utilisation ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Management Services

scholarly journals Marital Status, Sex and Utilisation of Healthcare Service Among the Older Adults in India

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Babul Hossain ◽  
K.S. James ◽  
Md Juel Rana
Keyword(s):  
Older Adults ◽  
Health Care ◽  
Health Services ◽  
Marital Status ◽  
Strong Association ◽  
The Elderly ◽  
Healthcare Services ◽  
Health Care Utilisation ◽  
Sample Survey ◽  
Significant Difference

Abstract Background: The association between marital status and health status among the elderly has been at the forefront of investigation for a long time. However, the study on the effects of marital status on health care utilisation is limited. This study assesses the association between use of inpatient health services and marital status among older adults in India from the perspective of sex. Methods: Data used in the study have been obtained from the 75th Round of National Sample Survey (NSS) on "Social Consumption: Health" with the sample size of 42,762 individuals aged 60 years or above. The study implements the Andersen's behavioural framework controlling the predisposing, enabling, and need characteristics and uses binary logistic regression models to assess the effect of marital status on inpatient health service. Results: There is a significant difference in inpatient healthcare use between married and widowed elderly by age, educational level, perceived health and mobility for both sexes. The unadjusted regression analysis shows that widowed are more likely to use inpatient health services both for women (OR=1.57; CI 95%= 1.47, 1.68) and men (OR=1.11; CI 95%= 1.02, 1.2). However, after controlling the predisposing, enabling, and need factors, a strong association between healthcare services and marital status has been found for women, but not for men. Widowed women (OR=1.43; CI 95%=1.33, 1.54) are more likely to use inpatient health care than married women. Conclusion: The present study has reported the association between the utilisation of inpatient health services and marital status for the elderly in India. Our study advocates that there is a sex difference in the utilisation of inpatient health services by the marital Status in India. Older widowed women should get more focus on health and elderly policy perspectives.

scholarly journals Access to Health Care Services by Individuals Who Are Deaf or Hard of Hearing (Dhh) in Botswana: Francistown and Tati

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gorgeous Sarah Chinkonono ◽  
Vivian Namuli ◽  
Catherine Atuhaire ◽  
Hamida Massaquoi ◽  
Sourav Mukhopadhyay ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Health Care ◽  
Hard Of Hearing ◽  
Access To Health Care ◽  
Health Care Services ◽  
Healthcare Professionals ◽  
Healthcare Services ◽  
Structured Interview ◽  
Care Services ◽  
Main Challenge ◽  
The Impact

Abstract Background: Individuals who are Deaf or hard of hearing (DHH) face a lot of challenges when accessing health care services. The main barrier that they face is communication. Despite this, not much research had been carried out in Africa to understand how individuals who are DHH access healthcare services. This study sought to explore experiences of individuals who are DHH in Botswana when accessing healthcare services to propose recommendations towards improving their situation.Methods: This is a qualitative research study using phenomenological approach. Participants were observed at one point in time. Face-to-face in-depth interviews were conducted with 22 DHH individuals living in Francistown and Tati, using a semi-structured interview guide and an interpreter. Participants age range was between 18years to 40years. Purposive sampling and snowballing sampling techniques were used to select the participants.Results: The main challenge that individuals who are DHH in Botswana face is communication barrier which has culminated in their reception of poor healthcare services as the healthcare professionals fail to effectively attain to their health needs. This is evident through wrong prescriptions and treatment; poor counselling services, lack of confidentiality; poor maternal health services especially during child delivery; and limited health information. However, individuals who are DHH in Botswana continues to utilise healthcare services.Conclusion: Poor communication between healthcare professionals and individuals who are DHH act as an impediment to acquiring proper healthcare services by individuals who are DHH. This can lead to poor health outcomes for the DHH population as they are not well informed about health issues that they are at risk of and at times do not know where to seek specific healthcare services pertaining to the health problems they are experiencing. Therefore, there is a need to provide sign language interpreters in the healthcare centres to reduce the impact of this problem.

Health care utilisation and economic burden of difficult-to-treat rheumatoid arthritis: a cost-of-illness study

Rheumatology ◽  
2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nadia M T Roodenrijs ◽  
Paco M J Welsing ◽  
Marlies C van der Goes ◽  
Janneke Tekstra ◽  
Floris P J G Lafeber ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Rheumatoid Arthritis ◽  
Health Care ◽  
Resource Use ◽  
Economic Burden ◽  
Linear Regression Analysis ◽  
Work Productivity ◽  
Health Care Utilisation ◽  
Care Utilisation ◽  
Annual Total ◽  
The Impact

Abstract Objectives To determine the impact of difficult-to-treat rheumatoid arthritis (D2T RA) on (costs related to) health care utilisation, other resource use and work productivity. Methods Data regarding health care utilisation, other resource use and work productivity of 52 D2T (according to the EULAR definition) and 100 non-D2T RA patients were collected via a questionnaire and an electronic patient record review during a study visit. Annual costs were calculated and compared between groups. Multivariable linear regression analysis was performed to assess whether having D2T RA was associated with higher costs. Results Mean (95% confidence interval) annual total costs were €37,605 (€27,689-50,378) for D2T and €19,217 (€15,647-22,945) for non-D2T RA patients (p < 0.001). D2T RA patients visited their rheumatologist more frequently, were more often admitted to day care facilities, underwent more laboratory tests and used more drugs (specifically tsDMARDs), compared with non-D2T RA patients (p < 0.01). In D2T RA patients, the main contributors to total costs were informal help of family and friends (28%), drugs (26%) and loss of work productivity (16%). After adjustment for physical functioning (health assessment questionnaire (HAQ)), having D2T RA was no longer statistically significantly associated with higher total costs. HAQ was the only independent determinant of higher costs in multivariable analysis. Conclusions The economic burden of D2T RA is significantly higher than that of non-D2T RA, indicated by higher health care utilisation and higher annual total costs. Functional disability is a key determinant of higher costs in RA.

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