Book Description

"The government of Uganda faces a multitude of challenges in the health care arena, from ensuring that health care services are delivered in the most equitable manner, to structuring the health care delivery system to be most effective, to waging campaigns against the leading causes of mortality and morbidity. The government needs the best information available on existing conditions, in order to devise strategies to successfully meet these challenges." This technical paper summarizes the results of three research efforts concerning current health care issues in Uganda. Its purpose is to summarize key actions and identify new challenges. In Part I, "Equity of Access to Health Services in Uganda: The Effects of Income, Gender, Proximity to Services, and Quality of Care," the author examines a number of factors that affect access to health services, including quality of services and income. Part II of this technical paper, "Decentralization of Health Services in Uganda: Moving Toward Improved Delivery of Services," summarizes the key actions that have been undertaken during the decentralization of Uganda's health sector and identifies challenges that are emerging during this process. Part III, "Malaria: A Priority Health Problem," summarizes the status of malaria control in Uganda and highlights some of the key issues that need to be addressed to further strengthen malaria control efforts. This paper should prove useful to those working in Uganda and in other countries facing similar policy changes, to anticipate the challenges as they seek to improve the quality of health and other public services.