Accessibility and availability of health care services to internally displaced persons, in Kitgum and Pader districts, northern Uganda

BackgroundThere are an estimated 1.4 million internally displaced persons (IDPs) in Ukraine as a result of the armed conflict in Ukraine.Objectives(i) Measure the burden of key mental disorders (PTSD, depression and anxiety); (ii) examine rates of utilization of health and psychosocial support services; (iii) examine the patterns of utilisation of services.MethodsThe study used a cross-sectional survey design and was conducted throughout Ukraine between March and May 2016 with 2203 IDPs aged 18 years and over. Time-location sampling was chosen as a probabilistic sampling method. Outcome measures were the PCL-5 for PTSD, the PHQ-9 for depression and the GAD-7 for anxiety. Descriptive and multivariate regression analyses were used.ResultsOf the 2203 respondents, 703 reported experiencing a mental health or emotional problem over the previous 12 months and were also screened positive with PTSD, depression or anxiety. Of these 703, 180 had sought care (with sources of care to be given in the presentation). Therefore, 523 respondents did not seek care, equating to an overall treatment gap of 74%, (74% for PTSD, 71% for depression and 70% for anxiety). Key reasons for not utilising treatment included preferring to use their own medications (n = 176); unaffordability of health services (n = 118) or medications (n = 140); poor understanding by health care providers (n = 123); poor quality of services (n = 78) and stigma/embarrassment (n = 41).ConclusionsThe findings support the need for a scaled-up, comprehensive and trauma informed response to provision of the mental health care of IDPs in Ukraine.Disclosure of interestThe authors have not supplied their declaration of competing interest.

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Mobile clinics in conflict-affected communities of North West and South West regions of Cameroon: an alternative option for differentiated delivery service for internally displaced persons during COVID-19

Conflict and Health ◽

10.1186/s13031-021-00427-9 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 15 (1) ◽

Author(s):

Lundi-Anne Omam ◽

Elizabeth Jarman ◽

Wilfred Ekokobe ◽

Agbor Evon ◽

Esther Njomo Omam

Keyword(s):

Health Care ◽

Hiv Care ◽

Internally Displaced Persons ◽

Displaced Persons ◽

Model Of Care ◽

Internally Displaced ◽

North West ◽

Primary Health ◽

Mobile Clinics ◽

Living With Hiv

Abstract Introduction The guidelines for differentiated service delivery (DSD) for HIV treatment became operational in Cameroon in 2017 with the Test and Treat national strategy elaborating services that can be decentralized and task shifted at community level, but with little to no guidelines for DSD in fragile and conflict-affected settings. Since 2016, more than 680,000 Cameroonians have been internally displaced due to the conflict in the North West and South West regions (NWSW). This conflict has impacted on the health system with numerous attacks on health facilities and staff, reducing access to health care for internally displaced persons. The outbreak of COVID-19 further reduced humanitarian responses for fear of spreading COVID-19. Mobile clinics were utilized as a model of care in piloting DSD for HIV in conflict-affected settings within the COVID-19 context. Methods The HIV DSD framework was used to evaluate a project that used mobile clinics in 05 divisions across the NWSW to provide primary health care to internally displaced persons in hard-to-reach areas. These mobile clinics were operated in the COVID-19 context and integrated HIV services in the benefit package. The mobile clinics mainstreamed HIV and COVID-19 sensitization during community mobilization, HIV consultations, HIV testing and referrals, and in some cases antiretroviral (ARV) dispensation. The project ran from March to October 2020. The results from the evaluation of this model of HIV care delivery were analysed in 06 of 08 mobile clinics. Results In 07 months, a total of 14,623 persons living in conflict-affected settings were sensitized on HIV, 1979 received HIV testing from which 122 were positive and 33 placed on ARVs. 28 loss-to-follow up people living with HIV were relinked to treatment and 209 consultations for persons living with HIV were conducted. Despite the good collaboration at regional and field level, there was distrust by ARV centers for humanitarian organizations. Conclusion Mobile clinics are a model of care which could be leveraged in fragile and conflict-affected settings as an alternative model of care for HIV DSD to ensure continuum of HIV care and treatment. However this should be integrated within the benefit package of primary health care services offered by mobile clinics.

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Knowledge, perception, and attitude of health-care professionals toward obstetrics ultrasonography in selected internally displaced persons' camps in North-east Nigeria

West African Journal of Radiology ◽

10.4103/wajr.wajr_20_18 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 26 (2) ◽

pp. 121

Author(s):

JosephDlama Zira ◽

FatiDauda Malgwi ◽

WiamElshami Elshami ◽

AkanegbuUbaka Edwin ◽

MoiSilas Alhamdu ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Health Care ◽

Health Care Professionals ◽

Internally Displaced Persons ◽

Displaced Persons ◽

Internally Displaced ◽

North East

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10. Health Care Services to War- Affected Children in Northern Uganda

Children Affected by Armed Conflict ◽

10.7312/deno17472-012 ◽

2017 ◽

pp. 229-254

Keyword(s):

Health Care ◽

Health Care Services ◽

Northern Uganda ◽

Care Services

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Urbanisation by subtraction: the afterlife of camps in northern Uganda

The Journal of Modern African Studies ◽

10.1017/s0022278x14000457 ◽

2014 ◽

Vol 52 (4) ◽

pp. 597-622 ◽

Cited By ~ 7

Author(s):

Susan Reynolds Whyte ◽

Sulayman Babiiha ◽

Rebecca Mukyala ◽

Lotte Meinert

Keyword(s):

Northern Uganda ◽

Internally Displaced Persons ◽

Displaced Persons ◽

Water Supplies ◽

Internally Displaced ◽

Rural Villages ◽

Displaced People ◽

The Dead ◽

Local Leaders

ABSTRACTAs peace returns to northern Uganda, a unique arithmetic of development is evident in the former Internally Displaced Persons camps. Small trading centres whose populations multiplied as they became camps now envision futures as Town Boards. Subtraction is necessary: the displaced people and the dead buried in the camps are being returned to their rural villages. Urban planners have produced meticulous drawings that envisage the division of land into plots for development. Donors are making additions in the form of new market buildings and water supplies. Yet this arithmetic must reckon with new problems as time passes. The article is based primarily on fieldwork in Awach, a former IDP camp now slated for status as a Town Board. In analysing material from interviews with landowners, ‘remainders’ who stayed behind after the camp closed, local leaders and officials, we emphasise the paradoxes, tensions and conflicts of this special path to development.

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(A194) “Displaced Voices”: Are those Displaced by War Satisfied with the Provision and Quality of Health Care they Received?

Prehospital and Disaster Medicine ◽

10.1017/s1049023x11001907 ◽

2011 ◽

Vol 26 (S1) ◽

pp. s54-s55

Author(s):

K. Wickramage ◽

R. Surentrikumaran

Keyword(s):

Public Health ◽

Health Care ◽

Health Care Services ◽

Qualitative Methodology ◽

Healthcare Services ◽

Internally Displaced ◽

Community Health Volunteers ◽

Care Services ◽

Humanitarian Response ◽

Displaced Children

Research into how war-displaced communities value or prioritize aid response is limited. A clearer conceptualization of what affected populations seek from the international humanitarian response to their needs would be valuable in planning for emergencies.AimExploring internally displaced person's (IDP) experiences and perceptions of the humanitarian response, with a focus on health risks, resources, and health services received during their displacement.MethodA mixed-method approach using both quantitative and qualitative methods was used. This study assessed the perceptions of IDPs on provision of health and other services using an interviewer-administered-questionnaire (survey) using a sample frame that included the entire displaced population of 150,000 IDPs living in 97 camps. Findings from the survey were synthesized with the key themes that emerged through the qualitative methodology. In-depth interviews were conducted with health cluster actors. An innovative child-to-child (CTC) based research methodology was used to ascertain the insights and perceptions of displaced children and adolescents.ResultsThe survey revealed community satisfaction with health care services immediately after displacement (within IDP camps) improved considerably from 63% to 80% (6 months after the acute phase). Significant gains also were registered for shelter (54.2% to 81.4%), and sanitation (47.4% to 62%). Satisfaction of services rendered by primary healthcare workers also were high; 81.7% for public health midwife (who provided maternal and child health care), and 76.8% for public health inspectors (who provided environmental health and disease control). However, CTC workshops revealed inequalities in access to food based on ‘caste’ and occupation. Protection issues relating to violence from community and militant groups were reported.ConclusionsDespite IDP satisfaction with healthcare services, there were gaps in food security and violence/protection activities. Recognizing of the role/impact community health volunteers play in health care is an important factor in enhancing primary health care services in IDP camps.

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