This policy brief by the Chronic Poverty Research Centre, examines the link between mental health and chronic poverty in Uganda. It outlines challenges to implementing effective services for people affected by mental disorders and actions that are needed to promote mental health in the country. The paper shows that mental health and chronic poverty are linked in a vicious cycle of exclusion, poor access to services, low productivity, diminished livelihoods and assets depletion. People with mental disorders in Uganda also experience some of the worst forms of stigma and discrimination linked to lack of awareness, misinformation and stereotyping about their condition.
Equitable health services
Mental illness and exclusion: Putting mental health on the development agenda in Uganda
Ssanyu R: Chronic Poverty Research Centre, UK, 2007
Progress towards the child mortality millennium development goal in urban sub-Saharan Africa: the dynamics of population growth, immunization, and access to clean water
Fotso JC, Ezeh AC, Madise NJ, Ciera J: BMC Public Health, 2007
This paper, published in BMC Public Health, highlights the effects of urban population growth and access to health and social services on progress in achieving Millennium Development Goal (MDG) 4 – to reduce child mortality by two thirds by 2015. The paper examines trends in childhood mortality in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) in relation to urban population growth, vaccination coverage and access to safe drinking water.
We want birth control: reproductive health findings in Northern Uganda
Krause S: Women's Commission for Refugee Women and Children, 2007
What does the reproductive health (RH) situation among the conflict-affected populations of northern Uganda look like? The Women’s Commission for Refugee Women and Children and the United Nations Population Fund assessed this question in February 2007 and visited the districts of Kitgum and Pader and also a youth center and clinic in Gulu.
Improving the health of mothers and babies: Breaking through health system constraints
Matthews Z: ID21Health News, August 2007
Improving maternal health remains the most elusive of the Millennium Development Goals. Every minute, at least one woman dies from pregnancy-related causes: 99 percent of these are in developing countries. The majority of these deaths occur in sub-Saharan Africa and south Asia, and are avoidable through using standard interventions and health care which all pregnant women and their newborns need.
The contribution of primary health care to the Millennium Development Goals
Chan M: The World Health Organisation, 16 August 2007
The Director-General of the World Health Organisation in an opening address at the International Conference on Health for Development in Buenos Aires, Argentina on 16 June 2007 argued that to realize the great potential of health to drive human development, we must reach the poor with appropriate, high-quality care. The speech explores challenges in the role that primary health care can play in this and how to overcome major barriers, such as weak health systems, inadequate numbers of health care staff, and the challenge of financing care for impoverished people.
UN agencies unveil initiative to reduce female genital mutilation
United Nations News Service, 9 August 2007
Two United Nations agencies have launched a $44 million programme to reduce female genital mutilation/cutting (FGM/C) by 40 per cent by 2015 and to end the harmful traditional practice within a generation. Launched by the UN Population Fund (UNFPA) and the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF), the initiative will encourage communities in 16 African countries with high prevalence to abandon the practice, which has serious physical and psychological effects. Partnering with the agencies will be Governments, religious leaders, reproductive health providers, media and civil society.
WHO releases new guidance on insecticide-treated mosquito nets
World Health Organisation, 16 August 2007
The World Health Organization (WHO) today issued new global guidance for the use of insecticide-treated mosquito nets to protect people from malaria. For the first time, WHO recommends that insecticidal nets be long-lasting, and distributed either free or highly subsidized and used by all community members. Impressive results in Kenya, achieved by means of the new WHO-recommended strategy, show that free mass distribution of long-lasting insecticidal nets is a powerful way to quickly and dramatically increase coverage, particularly among the poorest people. This is the first demonstration of the impact of large-scale distribution of insecticide treated mosquito nets under programme conditions, rather than in research settings, where, in different parts of Africa, reduction observed in overall mortality has ranged from 14 % up to 60 %.
Geographical disparities in core population coverage indicators for Roll Back Malaria in Malawi
Kazembe LN, Appleton CC, Kleinschmidt I: International Journal for Equity in Health 6:5, 4 July 2007
Implementation of known effective interventions could reduce the malaria burden by half by the year 2010. Identifying geographical disparities of coverage of these interventions at small area level is useful to inform where greatest scale-up efforts should be concentrated. They also provide baseline data against which to compare future scale-up of interventions. However, population data are not always available at local level. This study applied spatial smoothing methods to generate maps at subdistrict level in Malawi to serve such purposes.
Global tuberculosis control: surveillance, planning, financing
World Health Organization, 2007
This eleventh annual WHO report on Tuberculosis (TB) assesses whether national TB control programmes (NTP) around the world met the 2005 targets of 70 per cent case detection and 85 per cent cure, and examines the effectiveness of the Stop TB strategy. The paper finds that TB is still a major cause of death worldwide, but the global epidemic is on the threshold of decline – in 2005 the TB incidence rate was stable or in decline in all six WHO regions, and had reached a peak worldwide. Most government health services now recognise that TB control must go beyond DOTS (the recommended strategy for controlling TB), however, the broader Stop TB Strategy is not yet fully operational in most countries.
HIV and TB in the context of universal access: what is working and what is not?
International HIV/AID consultative meeting report: Stop TB Partnership, 2007
This paper reports on a meeting co-organised by the World Health Organization, UNAIDS and international organisations, to accelerate an effective and joint response to the epidemic of HIV-related tuberculosis (TB). The paper highlights the achievements of the global TB/HIV working group from the Stop TB Partnership, and discusses the concept of universal access to HIV services and its importance and contribution to TB prevention, diagnosis and treatment services. It also highlights some critical issues that have been neglected in the global response to HIV-related TB, including the optimal treatment regimens to use when treating TB and HIV at the same time.