Disease diagnosis in primary care in Uganda

Simple item page
dc.contributor.authorKayitale Mbonye, Martin
dc.contributor.authorBurnett, Sarah M.
dc.contributor.authorColebunders, Robert
dc.contributor.authorNaikoba, Sarah
dc.contributor.authorVan Geertruyden, Jean-Pierre
dc.contributor.authorWeaver, Marcia R.
dc.contributor.authorRonald, Allan
dc.date.accessioned2023-01-27T14:22:30Z
dc.date.available2023-01-27T14:22:30Z
dc.date.issued2014
dc.description.abstractThe overall burden of disease (BOD) especially for infectious diseases is higher in Sub-Saharan Africa than other regions of the world. Existing data collected through the Health Management Information System (HMIS) may not be optimal to measure BOD. The Infectious Diseases Capacity Building Evaluation (IDCAP) cooperated with the Ugandan Ministry of Health to improve the quality of HMIS data. We describe diagnoses with associated clinical assessments and laboratory investigations of outpatients attending primary care in Uganda. Methods: IDCAP supported HMIS data collection at 36 health center IVs in Uganda for five months (November 2009 to March 2010) prior to implementation of the IDCAP interventions. Descriptive analyses were performed on a cross-sectional dataset of 209,734 outpatient visits during this period. Results: Over 500 illnesses were diagnosed. Infectious diseases accounted for 76.3% of these and over 30% of visits resulted in multiple diagnoses. Malaria (48.3%), cough/cold (19.4%), and intestinal worms (6.6%) were the most frequently diagnosed illnesses. Body weight was recorded for 36.8% of patients and less than 10% had other clinical assessments recorded. Malaria smears (64.2%) and HIV tests (12.2%) accounted for the majority of 84,638 laboratory tests ordered. Fewer than 30% of patients for whom a laboratory investigation was available to confirm the clinical impression had the specific test performed. Conclusions: We observed a broad range of diagnoses, a high percentage of multiple diagnoses including true co-morbidities, and underutilization of laboratory support. This emphasizes the complexity of illnesses to be addressed by primary healthcare workers. An improved HMIS collecting timely, quality data is needed. This would adequately describe the burden of disease and processes of care at primary care level, enable appropriate national guidelines, programs and policies and improve accountability for the quality of care.en_US
dc.identifier.citationMbonye, M. K., Burnett, S. M., Colebunders, R., Naikoba, S., Van Geertruyden, J. P., Weaver, M. R., & Ronald, A. (2014). Disease diagnosis in primary care in Uganda. BMC Family Practice, 15(1), 1-13. doi:10.1186/1471-2296-15-165en_US
dc.identifier.other10.1186/1471-2296-15-165
dc.identifier.urihttps://nru.uncst.go.ug/handle/123456789/7325
dc.language.isoenen_US
dc.publisherBMC Family Practiceen_US
dc.subjectPrimary careen_US
dc.subjectDisease diagnosisen_US
dc.titleDisease diagnosis in primary care in Ugandaen_US
dc.typeArticleen_US
Files
Original bundle
Now showing 1 - 1 of 1
Thumbnail Image
Name:
Disease diagnosis in primary care in Uganda.pdf
Size:
1.28 MB
Format:
Adobe Portable Document Format
Description:
Article
Download
License bundle
Now showing 1 - 1 of 1
No Thumbnail Available
Name:
license.txt
Size:
1.71 KB
Format:
Item-specific license agreed upon to submission
Description:
Download
Collections
Medical and Health Sciences