Perceived barriers of access to health and nutrition services under drought and food insecurity emergency in north-east Uganda: a qualitative study.
BMC Public Health
; 24(1): 390, 2024 02 06.
Article
in En
| MEDLINE
| ID: mdl-38321413
ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND:
In the face of drought and food insecurity emergency, evidence on access to health and nutrition services is important. Karamoja is one of the regions that have experienced extreme drought and food insecurity emergency in Uganda. As a part of the drought and food insecurity emergency response, World Health Organization (WHO) with Ministry of Health (MoH) has designed and implemented a qualitative study in 15 districts that have experienced drought and food insecurity emergency in north-east Uganda. Thus, we aimed to explore the barriers of access to health and nutrition services in drought and food insecurity emergency affected districts in north-east Uganda.METHODS:
We employed a descriptive qualitative study design. We interviewed 30 patients and 20 Village Health Teams (VHT) from 15 districts. We employed an in-depth interview with semi-structured questions to collect data until information saturation reached. We used thematic data analysis approach by ATLAS.ti version 7.5.1.8 software.RESULTS:
Of the 30 interviewed subjects, 15 were female, and the median age of the subjects was 29 years with interquartile range (IQR) of 23 to 37 years. Majority (68.8%) of subjects reported that access to health and nutrition services was harder to them. Four themes sociocultural and economic; environmental; health system, and individual related factors were identified as the barriers of access to health and nutrition services.CONCLUSION:
The present study identified several modifiable barriers that hinder access to health and nutrition services in drought and food insecurity affected districts. Comprehensive interventions aimed at addressing sociocultural, economic, environmental, health system and subject related challenges are required to improve access to health and nutrition services in drought and food insecurity affected setups.Key words
Full text:
1
Collection:
01-internacional
Database:
MEDLINE
Main subject:
Droughts
/
Food Insecurity
Type of study:
Prognostic_studies
/
Qualitative_research
Aspects:
Determinantes_sociais_saude
/
Implementation_research
Limits:
Adult
/
Female
/
Humans
/
Male
Country/Region as subject:
Africa
Language:
En
Journal:
BMC Public Health
Journal subject:
SAUDE PUBLICA
Year:
2024
Document type:
Article
Affiliation country:
Uganda