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Universal Health Coverage in Sub-Saharan Africa: Progress, Challenges, and Prospects

A special issue of International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health (ISSN 1660-4601). This special issue belongs to the section "Global Health".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 July 2020) | Viewed by 3927

Special Issue Editor


E-Mail Website1 Website2
Guest Editor
1. National Health Research Authority, Pediatric Centre of Excellence, University Teaching Hospital, P.O. Box 30075, Lusaka, Zambia
2. Department of Global Health, Boston University School of Public HealthCrosstown, 373, 801 Massachusetts Avenue, Boston, MA 02118, USA
Interests: global health research; health systems research; malaria; M&E; MNHCH; orphans and vulnerable children

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

We are organizing a Special Issue focusing on universal health coverage (UHC) in Sub-Saharan Africa in the International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health (IJERPH). This Special Issue focuses on three main areas: progress made over the past three years (2016–2018, may include first half of 2019) by Sub-Saharan African countries towards UHC; challenges faced in achieving UHC; and prospects of achieving UHC by 2030. The World Health Organization (WHO) defines UHC as a state where all individuals and communities receive the health services they need, without suffering financial hardship. UHC covers the full continuum of care from health promotion to disease prevention, treatment, rehabilitation, and palliative care. In this Special Issue, we shall consider any article dealing with UHC, but will have special focus on the following three thematic areas:

  • Progress towards universal health coverage;
  • Challenges towards universal health coverage; and
  • Prospects towards universal health coverage by 2030.

Articles should focus on the level and equity of coverage around the 16 essential services in the four categories identified by the World Health Organization as listed below:

  • Reproductive, maternal, newborn, child health and nutrition:
    • Family planning
    • Antenatal and delivery care
    • Full child immunization
    • Health-seeking behavior for pneumonia
  • Infectious diseases
    • Tuberculosis treatment
    • HIV antiretroviral treatment
    • Hepatitis treatment
    • Use of insecticide-treated bed nets for malaria prevention
    • Adequate sanitation
  • Noncommunicable diseases
    • Prevention and treatment of raised blood pressure
    • Prevention and treatment of raised blood sugar
    • Cervical cancer screening
    • Tobacco (non-)smoking
  • Health service capacity and access
    • Basic hospital access
    • Health worker density
    • Access to essential medicines
    • Health security: compliance with the international health regulations

Dr. Godfrey Biemba
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

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Keywords

  • Universal health coverage
  • Healthcare financing
  • Healthcare access
  • Agenda 2030

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Published Papers (1 paper)

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Research

11 pages, 635 KiB  
Article
Strengthening Routine Immunization Services in an Angolan Comuna: The Fight against the Burden of Unvaccinated Children in the Sustainable Development Goals Era
by Mattia Fattorini, Calistus Wilunda, Gloria Raguzzoni, Cecilia Quercioli, Gabriele Messina, Maria Pia Fantini and Giovanni Putoto
Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2019, 16(22), 4572; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph16224572 - 19 Nov 2019
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 3366
Abstract
In May 2018, the non-governmental organization (NGO) Doctors with Africa CUAMM began to implement an intervention to strengthen Chiulo Hospital’s public health section to deliver immunization services in Mucope Comuna, Ombadja District. We aimed to evaluate the effect of this intervention. During [...] Read more.
In May 2018, the non-governmental organization (NGO) Doctors with Africa CUAMM began to implement an intervention to strengthen Chiulo Hospital’s public health section to deliver immunization services in Mucope Comuna, Ombadja District. We aimed to evaluate the effect of this intervention. During the intervention period, actions such as staff training, improvement in the monitoring of vaccine stockpile, and the involvement of Community Health Workers were performed. The effects of the intervention on the number of vaccine doses administered were examined using negative binomial regression. Doses administered were 14,221 during the intervention period and 11,276 in the pre-intervention one. The number of administered doses was 26% higher (95% CI 9%–45%) in the intervention period than in the pre-intervention period. This was driven by vaccine doses administered during outreach sessions, where a statistically significant increase of 62% (95% CI 28%–107%) was observed. Regarding individual vaccines, statistically significant increases in the number of doses were observed for OPV2 (76%), OPV3 (100%), Penta3 (53%), PCV3 (53%), and Rota2 (43%). The NGO interventions led to improved delivery of immunization services in the study area. Greater increases were observed for vaccine doses that are more likely to be missed by children. Full article
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