Spatial and temporal trends of cesarean deliveries in Uganda: 2012-2016.

BACKGROUND: Cesarean section (CS) is an important intervention in complicated births when the safety of the mother or baby is compromised. Despite worldwide concerns about the overutilization of CS in recent years, many African women and their newborns still die because of limited or no access to CS services. We evaluated temporal and spatial trends in CS births in Uganda and modeled future trends to inform programming. METHODS: We performed secondary analysis of total births data from the Uganda National Health Management Information System (HMIS) reports during 2012-2016. We reviewed data from 3461 health facilities providing basic, essential obstetric and emergency obstetric care services in all 112 districts. We defined facility-based CS rate as the proportion of cesarean deliveries among total live births in facilities, and estimated the population-based CS rate using the total number of cesarean deliveries as a proportion of annual expected births (including facility-based and non-facility-based) for each district. We predicted CS rates for 2021 using Generalised Linear Models with Poisson family, Log link and Unbiased Sandwich Standard errors. We used cesarean deliveries as the dependent variable and calendar year as the independent variable. RESULTS: Cesarean delivery rates increased both at facility and population levels in Uganda. Overall, the CS rate for live births at facilities was 9.9%, increasing from 8.5% in 2012 to 11% in 2016. The overall population-based CS rate was 4.7%, and increased from 3.2 to 5.9% over the same period. Health Centre IV level facilities had the largest annual rate of increase in CS rate between 2012 and 2016. Among all 112 districts, 80 (72%) had a population CS rate below 5%, while 38 (34%) had a CS rate below 1% over the study period. Overall, Uganda's facility-based CS rate is projected to increase by 36% (PRR 1.36, 95% CI 1.35-1.36) in 2021 while the population-based CS rate is estimated to have doubled (PRR 2.12, 95% CI 2.11-2.12) from the baseline in 2016. CONCLUSION: Cesarean deliveries are increasing in Uganda. Health center IVs saw the largest increases in CS, and while there was regional heterogeneity in changes in CS rates, utilization of CS services is inadequate in most districts. We recommend expansion of CS services to improve availability.

Outbreak of yellow fever in central and southwestern Uganda, February-may 2016.

BACKGROUND: On 28 March, 2016, the Ministry of Health received a report on three deaths from an unknown disease characterized by fever, jaundice, and hemorrhage which occurred within a one-month period in the same family in central Uganda. We started an investigation to determine its nature and scope, identify risk factors, and to recommend eventually control measures for future prevention. METHODS: We defined a probable case as onset of unexplained fever plus ≥1 of the following unexplained symptoms: jaundice, unexplained bleeding, or liver function abnormalities. A confirmed case was a probable case with IgM or PCR positivity for yellow fever. We reviewed medical records and conducted active community case-finding. In a case-control study, we compared risk factors between case-patients and asymptomatic control-persons, frequency-matched by age, sex, and village. We used multivariate conditional logistic regression to evaluate risk factors. We also conducted entomological studies and environmental assessments. RESULTS: From February to May, we identified 42 case-persons (35 probable and seven confirmed), of whom 14 (33%) died. The attack rate (AR) was 2.6/100,000 for all affected districts, and highest in Masaka District (AR = 6.0/100,000). Men (AR = 4.0/100,000) were more affected than women (AR = 1.1/100,000) (p = 0.00016). Persons aged 30-39 years (AR = 14/100,000) were the most affected. Only 32 case-patients and 128 controls were used in the case control study. Twenty three case-persons (72%) and 32 control-persons (25%) farmed in swampy areas (ORadj = 7.5; 95%CI = 2.3-24); 20 case-patients (63%) and 32 control-persons (25%) who farmed reported presence of monkeys in agriculture fields (ORadj = 3.1, 95%CI = 1.1-8.6); and 20 case-patients (63%) and 35 control-persons (27%) farmed in forest areas (ORadj = 3.2; 95%CI = 0.93-11). No study participants reported yellow fever vaccination. Sylvatic monkeys and Aedes mosquitoes were identified in the nearby forest areas. CONCLUSION: This yellow fever outbreak was likely sylvatic and transmitted to a susceptible population probably by mosquito bites during farming in forest and swampy areas. A reactive vaccination campaign was conducted in the affected districts after the outbreak. We recommended introduction of yellow fever vaccine into the routine Uganda National Expanded Program on Immunization and enhanced yellow fever surveillance.