ArticleBMC public health2022
COVID-19 epidemiology and changes in health service utilization in Uganda's refugee settlements during the first year of the pandemic.
Article in BMC public health, 2022. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 14 papers.
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14 citing papers in PubMed, 31 citations in OpenAlex.
- Increased utilization of health care services for non-communicable diseases during the COVID-19 pandemic among refugees in Jordan: a mixed-methods study.Conflict and health · 2026Article
- Reforming China's retail prescription medicine purchasing system: evidence from retail pharmacies in Wuhan.BMC health services research · 2026Article
- Temporal trends in the incidence and case severity of COVID-19 cases among the Syrian refugees in Azraq camp in Jordan: A retrospective observational study.PLoS neglected tropical diseases · 2025Observational
- Strategies to maintain health service provision during the COVID-19 pandemic in refugee settings in Jordan and Uganda.PLOS global public health · 2025Article
- The impact of COVID-19 on health service utilization in sub-Saharan Africa-a scoping review.BMC global and public health · 2024Article
- COVID-19 among migrants, refugees, and internally displaced persons: systematic review, meta-analysis and qualitative synthesis of the global empirical literature.EClinicalMedicine · 2024Article
- The effect of COVID-19 on the non-COVID health outcomes of crisis-affected peoples: a systematic review.Conflict and health · 2024Review
- The implementation of infection prevention and control measures and health care utilisation in ACF-supported health facilities during the COVID-19 pandemic in Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of the Congo, 2020.Global health action · 2023Article
- Impact of COVID-19 on health service utilisation in sub-Saharan Africa: protocol for a scoping review.BMJ open · 2023Article
- Understanding the barriers and facilitators of COVID-19 risk mitigation strategy adoption and COVID-19 vaccination in refugee settlements in Uganda: a qualitative study.BMC public health · 2023Article
- The first year of the COVID-19 pandemic in humanitarian settings: epidemiology, health service utilization, and health care seeking behavior in Bangui and surrounding areas, Central African Republic.Conflict and health · 2023Article
- Estimating the effects of COVID-19 on essential health services utilization in Uganda and Bangladesh using data from routine health information systems.Frontiers in public health · 2023Article
- Navigating challenges in access to antenatal and intrapartum care: Afghan refugee women's experiences amidst the COVID-19 pandemic in Pakistan.Women's health (London, England)Article
- Prevalence and Factors Associated With Compliance With COVID-19 Presidential Lockdown Measures: A Cross-Sectional Study.Inquiry : a journal of medical care organization, provision and financingArticle
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Authors and funding
7 authors at 2 institutions in 2 countries.
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No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundThe COVID-19 pandemic has been characterized by multiple waves with varying rates of transmission affecting countries at different times and magnitudes. Forced displacement settings were considered particularly at risk due to pre-existing vulnerabilities. Yet, the effects of COVID-19 in refugee settings are not well understood. In this study, we report on the epidemiology of COVID-19 cases in Uganda's refugee settlement regions of West Nile, Center and South, and evaluate how health service utilization changed during the first year of the pandemic.
methodsWe calculate descriptive statistics, testing rates, and incidence rates of COVID-19 cases in UNHCR's line list and adjusted odds ratios for selected outcomes. We evaluate the changes in health services using monthly routine data from UNHCR's health information system (January 2017 to March 2021) and apply interrupted time series analysis with a generalized additive model and negative binomial distribution, accounting for long-term trends and seasonality, reporting results as incidence rate ratios.
findingsThe first COVID-19 case was registered in Uganda on March 20, 2020, and among refugees two months later on May 22, 2020 in Adjumani settlement. Incidence rates were higher at national level for the general population compared to refugees by region and overall. Testing capacity in the settlements was lower compared to the national level. Characteristics of COVID-19 cases among refugees in Uganda seem to align with the global epidemiology of COVID-19. Only hospitalization rate was higher than globally reported. The indirect effects of COVID-19 on routine health services and outcomes appear quite consistent across regions. Maternal and child routine and preventative health services seem to have been less affected by COVID-19 than consultations for acute conditions. All regions reported a decrease in consultations for respiratory tract infections.
interpretationCOVID-19 transmission seemed lower in settlement regions than the national average, but so was testing capacity. Disruptions to health services were limited, and mainly affected consultations for acute conditions. This study, focusing on the first year of the pandemic, warrants follow-up research to investigate how susceptibility evolved over time, and how and whether health services could be maintained.
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