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Background: Neonatal mortality remains a public health concern in developing countries such as Uganda. Three-quarters of all newborn deaths occur in the first week of life, with 50% occurring during the first 24-hours. The World Health Organization developed essential newborn care measures to improve neonatal outcomes.This study aimed at determining maternal knowledge attitude and practices towards essential newborn care in Mbale district, Eastern Uganda.Methods: A hospital-based cross-sectional survey employing quantitative and qualitative methods was conducted at selected health facilities in Mbale district. 366 postnatal mothers were interviewed using a structured pretested and validated questionnaire. Knowledge was assessed using closed-ended questions; a score of ‘one’ was allocated for ‘correct knowledge’ and ‘zero’ for ‘incorrect knowledge’. The attitude was assessed using a 5-point Likert scale. Practices were evaluated through open-ended questions and by 15 in-depth interviews. Data were analyzed using STATA version 14.0 and Nvivo version 11.0Results: The majority, 341(93.2%) of the mothers, knew the signs of eye infection. All the mothers, 366(100%) knew about thermal care. The majority of the mothers, 315(86.1%) didn’t know the disease prevented by the BCG vaccine. Most 260(71.4%) didn’t know the dangers of leaving an umbilical stump wet. Most mothers, 332(91.0%) agreed that skin-to-skin contact should be ensured and warm clothing be provided to the neonate. The majority 352(96.2%) of the mothers practiced skin-to-skin contact as a thermal protective measure. A few mothers, 65(17.8%) did not bathe their babies within 24 hours of birth. Poor cord care practices like the use of gecko droppings were still in existence in the community. Mothers practised and described exclusive breastfeeding as cheap and affordable with all food values.Conclusion: There was good knowledge and positive attitude towards WHO essential newborn care but knowledge on some aspects of cord care and immunization was still lacking. Postnatal mothers demonstrated unsatisfactory practices towards essential newborn care. There is a need to educate mothers during antenatal visits, postnatal clinics, and Young Child Clinic to improve their knowledge on immunization and cord care and practice essential newborn care measures.

Introduction Epilepsy has been found to affect caregivers’ quality of life, lifestyle, psychological health, social well-being, and working time. Caregivers in Uganda as in the rest of the world are important in assisting a person with epilepsy in complying with medical directions and are actively involved in communicating with healthcare professionals. Little is known about the lived experiences of caregivers of persons afflicted with epilepsy in Uganda. The purpose of this study was to determine the lived experiences of caregivers of persons with epilepsy attending the epilepsy clinic at Mbale regional referral hospital, eastern Uganda. Methods and materials The caregivers’ lived experiences were elicited directly from them and their health workers who work with them in the care of the patients. Forty participants which consisted of 30 caregivers and 10 key informant health workers were selected for the study through purposive sampling. Face-to-face in-depth interviews with an unstructured interview guide were conducted to gather participants’ information. The principal investigator conceptualized the interview guide, the guide was then reviewed by co-investigators, and revised and approved as the final data collection instrument after an extensive and comprehensive literature review. The interview guide comprised two sections; the first section comprised the questions that elicited the participants’ social-demographic information. The second section comprised questions that explored caregivers’ experiences of persons afflicted with epilepsy. Notations were taken and a digital recorder was used purposely for audio recordings. All interviews lasted for an hour and were audio-recorded with the participant’s consent. An inductive thematic analysis was employed and adopted to identify the patterns emerging from the texts. Results The caregivers majorly perceived epilepsy as a burden. Four main themes were revealed from the analysis and these are: psychological burdens which included, worries about the future of the patient, being looked down upon; social burdens which entailed, affected public relations, feelings of stigma; an economic burden which included interference with the source of income, affected productivity at work; and physical burdens which included, Feelings of uneasiness and disrupted sleep among others. Conclusion The caregivers majorly perceived epilepsy as a serious burden. This burden can be psychological, social, economic, and physical. Therefore, services and plans targeting patients with epilepsy need to consider the burden that caregivers encounter to comprehensively manage epilepsy.

Background: The pandemic of COVID-19 has led to an upsurge of critically ill patients requiring advanced life support. Bacteria and fungi have been isolated as etiological agents for co-infections among COVID-19 patients in the intensive care unit (ICU). Co-infection has been associated with worse outcomes among COVID-19 patients in ICUs. The aim of this study was to determine the prevalence of co-infections and their antimicrobial susceptibility patterns among COVID-19 patients admitted to intensive care units in Uganda. Materials and Methods: A multi-center cross-sectional retrospective survey was carried out in Intensive Care Units (ICUs) in Mulago national referral hospital, UMC Victoria and TMR international hospital in Uganda. The records of 216 hospitalized ICU COVID-19 patients were purposively sampled using a standardized data abstraction tool. The collected data were double entered in Epi-data version 3.1 and exported to Stata version 17.0 for statistical analysis. Results: The prevalence of co-infections (bacterial and fungal) was 111(51.39%) with respiratory tract infections 57(51.35%) being the most prevalent. Staphylococcus aureus 23(28.75%), Citrobacter freudii 19(23.75%), Pseudomonas aureginosa 15(18.75%) and Klebsiella pneumoniae 10(12.50%) were the most frequently isolated bacterial species. The prevalence of multidrug resistant bacterial species was 75.95%. About 07/8(8.75%) of the bacterial species were extended spectrum beta lactamase or AmpC beta lactamase producers. Some of ESBL producers demonstrated susceptibility to Augmentin, Amikacin and trimethoprim. Augmentin 33/54(61.11%) and ceftriaxone 4/44(9.09%) had the highest and lowest overall antibiotic susceptibility respectively. About 31/111(27.93%) of the organisms were Candida albicans. The fungal species isolated had good overall susceptibility to most commonly used antifungal agents in the study setting. Conclusion: This study found a high prevalence of co-infections (bacterial and fungal). Respiratory tract infection was the most prevalent. There was an overwhelming burden of multidrug resistant infections with some extended spectrum drug resistant organisms isolated among COVID-19 patients admitted in the Ugandan ICUs. There is need for establishment of stronger policy measures in regards to antibiotic stewardship, antimicrobial surveillance and infection control to inform empirical antibiotic therapy and mitigate the spread MDR bacteria and antibiotic drug resistance among COVID-19 patients.

IntroductionEpilepsy has been found to affect caregivers’ quality of life, life style, psychological health, social well-being and their working time. Caregivers in Uganda as in the rest of the world are important in assisting a person with epilepsy in complying with medical directions and can be actively involved in communicating with health care professionals. Little is known about the lived experiences of caregivers of persons afflicted with epilepsy in Uganda. The purpose of the study was to determine the lived experiences of caregivers of persons with epilepsy attending the epilepsy clinic at Mbale regional referral hospital, eastern Uganda.Methods and materialsForty participants were selected for the study through purposive sampling. Face to face in-depth interviews with unstructured interview guide were conducted to gather participants’ information. The investigator conceptualized the interview guide, reviewed by co-investigators, and revised and approved as the final data collection instrument after an extensive and comprehensive literature review. The interview guide comprised of two sections, the first section comprised of the questions that elicited the participants’ social demographic information. The second section comprised questions that explored caregivers experiences of persons afflicted with epilepsy. Notations were taken and a digital recorder was used purposely for audio-recordings. All interviews lasted for an hour and were audio-recorded with the participants’ consent. An inductive thematic analysis was employed and adopted to identify the patterns emerging from the texts.ResultsThe caregivers majorly perceived epilepsy as a burden. Four main themes were revealed from the analysis and these are; psychological, social, economic, and physical burdens.ConclusionThe caregivers majorly perceived epilepsy as a serious burden. This burden can be psychological, social, economic, and physical. Therefore, services and plans targeting patients with epilepsy need to consider the burden that caregivers encounter to comprehensively manage epilepsy and its resultant burden.