Gloria Seruwagi

• Doctor of Public Health
• Lecturer at Makerere University

The Quality-of-Care Network (QCN), launched by WHO and partners, links global and national actors across several countries to improve maternal and newborn health. We conducted a prospective qualitative study to examine how QCN in Bangladesh, Ethiopia, Malawi and Uganda facilitated learning, sharing, and innovation within and between network countri...

Learning about how to evaluate implementation-focused networks is important as they become more commonly used. This research evaluated the emergence, legitimacy and effectiveness of a multi-country Quality of Care Network (QCN) aiming to improve maternal, newborn and child health (MNCH) outcomes. We examined the QCN global level, national and local...

In 2017, WHO and global partners launched ‘The Network for Improving Quality of Care for Maternal, Newborn and Child Health’ (QCN) seeking to reduce in-facility maternal and newborn deaths and stillbirth by 50% in health facilities by 2022. We explored how the QCN theory of change guided what actually happened over 2018–2022 in order to understand...

The Quality-of-Care Network (QCN) was conceptualized by the World Health Organization (WHO) and other global partners to facilitate learning on and improve quality of care for maternal and newborn health within and across low and middle-income countries. However, there was significant variance in the speed and extent to which QCN formed in the invo...

The Network for Improving Quality of Care for Maternal, Newborn and Child Health (QCN) aims to work through learning, action, leadership and accountability. We aimed to evaluate the effectiveness of QCN in these four areas at the global level and in four QCN countries: Bangladesh, Ethiopia, Malawi and Uganda. This mixed method evaluation comprised...

Background Regulation can improve professional practice and patient care, but is often weakly implemented and enforced in health systems in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). Taking a de-centred and frontline perspective, we examine national regulatory actors’ and health professionals’ views and experiences of health professional regulation...

Background: Regulation can improve professional practice and patient care but is often weakly implemented and enforced in health systems in Low- and Middle-Income Countries (LMICs). Taking a de-centred and frontline perspective, we examine national regulatory actors’ and health professionals’ views and experiences of health professional regulation...

The Quality-of-Care Network (QCN), launched by WHO and partners, links global and national actors across several countries to improve maternal and newborn health. We examine if QCN facilitated learning, sharing and innovations within and between network countries. We evaluated the QCN in Bangladesh, Ethiopia, Malawi and Uganda. We conducted a total...

The Network for Improving Quality of Care for Maternal, Newborn and Child Health (QCN) is intended to facilitate learning, action, leadership and accountability for improving quality of care in member countries. This requires legitimacy—a network’s right to exert power within national contexts. This is reflected, for example, in a government’s buy-...

The Network for Improving Quality of Care for Maternal, Newborn and Child Health (QCN) was established to build a cross-country platform for joint-learning around quality improvement implementation approaches to reduce mortality. This paper describes and explores the structure of the QCN in four countries and at global level. Using Social Network A...

The Quality of Care Network (QCN) is a global initiative that was established in 2017 under the leadership of WHO in 11 low-and- middle income countries to improve maternal, newborn, and child health. The vision was that the Quality of Care Network would be embedded within member countries and continued beyond the initial implementation period: tha...

Better policies, investments, and programs are needed to improve the integration and quality of maternal, newborn, and child health services. Previously, partnerships and collaborations that involved multiple countries with a unified aim have been observed to yield positive results. Since 2017, the WHO and partners have hosted the Quality of Care N...

The Quality Care Network (QCN) was conceptualized by the World Health Organisation (WHO) and other global partners to facilitate learning on and improve quality of care for maternal and newborn health within and across low and middle-income countries. However, there was significant variance in the speed and extent in which QCN formed in the involve...

Background: Regulating health professionals in Low- and Middle-Income Countries (LMICs) is a key challenge. While holding potential to improve professional practice and patient care, regulation is often weakly implemented and enforced across LMIC health systems, allowing poor practices to continue. Therefore, there is need to understand how regulat...

The Network for Improving Quality of Care for Maternal, Newborn and Child Health (QCN) was established to build a cross-country platform for joint-learning around quality improvement implementation approaches to reduce mortality. This paper describes and explores the structure of the QCN in four countries and at global level. Using Social Network A...

The Network for Improving Quality of Care for Maternal, Newborn and Child Health (QCN) is intended to facilitate learning, action, leadership and accountability for improving quality of care in member countries. This requires legitimacy—a network’s right to exert power within national contexts. This is reflected, for example, in a government’s buy-...

Better policies, investments, and programs are needed to improve the integration and quality of maternal, newborn, and child health services. Previously, partnerships and collaborations that involved multiple countries with a unified aim have been observed to yield positive results. Since 2017, the WHO and partners have hosted the Quality of Care N...

The Quality of Care Network (QCN) is a global initiative that was established in 2017 under the leadership of WHO in 11 low-and-middle income countries to improve maternal, newborn, and child health. The vision was that the Quality of Care Network would be embedded within member countries and continued beyond the initial implementation period: that...

The Network for Improving Quality of Care for Maternal, Newborn and Child Health (QCN) aims to work through learning, action, leadership and accountability. We aimed to evaluate the effectiveness of QCN in these four areas at the global level and in four QCN countries: Bangladesh, Ethiopia, Malawi and Uganda. This mixed method evaluation comprised...

Abstract Background Recent research shows that psychological distress is on the rise globally as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic and restrictions imposed on populations to manage it. We studied the association between psychological distress and social support among conflict refugees in urban, semi-rural and rural settlements in Uganda during the...

Following the WHO’s global pandemic declaration and Uganda’s confirmation of its first COVID-19 case in March 2020, a set of guidelines and directives were given to prevent the spread and mitigate the effects of the novel coronavirus. While initial strict enforcement was ensured and adherence to these preventive guidelines registered, it rapidly de...

Introduction and Background. The extent to which refugee communities were aware of the COVID-19 pandemic and adhered to related preventive measures remained largely unknown at its onset. This research was conducted in two settings: among urban refugees in Kampala’s informal settlements and refugees in established rural settlements.

Summary of initial research findings from UKRI-funded project entitled 'Strengthening health professional regulation in Kenya and Uganda'. The project examines policy stakeholders', doctors' and nurses' views and experiences of professional regulation in Kenya and Uganda, drawing on 76 interviews and 3467 responses to a survey of doctors and nurses...

Background The negative impact of COVID-19 on population health outcomes raises critical questions on health system preparedness and resilience, especially in resource-limited settings. This study examined healthworker preparedness for COVID-19 management and implementation experiences in Uganda’s refugee-hosting districts. Methods A cross section...

Background: Uniformed service personnel have an increased risk of poor viral load suppression (VLS). This paper evaluates the outcomes of the interventions to improve VLS in the 28 military health facilities in Uganda. Methodology: This operational research was conducted between October 2018 and September 2019, among people living with HIV (PLHI...

Background : The negative impact of COVID-19 on population health outcomes raises critical questions on health system preparedness and resilience, especially in resource-limited settings. This study examined healthworker preparedness for COVID-19 management and implementation experiences in Uganda’s refugee-hosting districts. Methods : A cross sect...

Background: Recent research shows that psychological distress is on the rise globally as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic and restrictions imposed on populations to manage it. We estimated the burden of psychological distress and scrutinized the role that social support may play in moderating psychological distress among conflict refugees in urban...

Background: Early infant diagnosis (EID) is an important strategy of the Prevention of Mother-to-child transmission (PMTCT) and when implemented in combination with other strategies could eliminate HIV MTCT. We implemented a series of strategic interventions intended to improve EID at 9 Military facilities in Uganda and evaluated their impact on up...

Background: Voluntary medical male circumcision (VMMC) significantly reduces the risk of acquiring HIV in men. Despite the percentage of circumcised men (15-49 years) in Uganda increasing over time, some populations are not taking up the surgical procedure. The government of Uganda and implementing partners have responded to this lack of VMMC cover...

Background: Worldwide, behavioral change interventions are at the core of prevention efforts to contain the novel Corona Virus (COVID-19). While the evidence base to inform such interventions in the general population is growing, equivocal research in humanitarian populations is lacking. The current study describes the nature, extent and predictors...

Background: Scaling up Voluntary Medical Male Circumcision (VMMC) is a critical intervention in achieving HIV epidemic control by 2020. However, documentation of programmatic interventions to improve VMMC uptake among military populations, a population that is at high risk of HIV, is lacking. URC-Department of Defense HIV/AIDS Prevention Program (D...

Background: Although tetanus is a life-threatening disease, its occurrence is rare in the post-vaccination era, especially in developed countries. The US President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) has supported scale up of Voluntary Medical Male Circumcision (VMCC) to reduce female-to-male HIV transmission in countries with a high prevalen...

This paper describes the WHO’s Model of Optimizing Volumes and Efficiencies (MOVE), adapted by the University Research Council (URC) - Department of Defense HIV/AIDS Prevention Program (DHAPP) to rapidly scale up Voluntary Medical Male Circumcision (VMMC) within Uganda’s military health facilities. First, we examine the MOVE model and then present...

Background Appropriate breastfeeding is vital for infant and young child nutrition. Annually, oral clefts affect 0.73 per 1000 children in Uganda. Despite this low incidence, children with a cleft face breastfeeding difficulty which affect their nutrition status. In addition, knowledge on maternal experiences with breastfeeding and support is limit...

There is tremendous need for feasible and acceptable community-based interventions to address poor nutrition and health among teen mothers in rural Eastern Uganda. To inform such interventions, we identified facilitators/opportunities and challenges for maternal/child nutrition and health at community level, as perceived by those closest to the pro...

Introduction: The teenage pregnancy rate of 25% in Uganda is worrying though it may seem low compared to 28% in Sub-Saharan countries and West and Central Africa. Young mothers in Uganda risk poor maternal and child health, being isolated, attempting unsafe abortions, failure to continue with school, and poverty. This paper describes perceptions a...

Introduction: Male involvement in maternal and child health is a practice wherein fathers and male community members actively participate in caring for women and supporting their family to access better health services. There is positive association between male involvement and better maternal and child health outcomes. However, the practice is no...

This study explored men's views of workplace-based HIV self-testing and the barriers and facilitators of linkage to posttest services. Six focus group discussions and individual in-depth interviews were held with employers and employees in private security companies in Uganda (N = 70). Using content analysis, five categories emerged. The first cate...

Background: Safe Male Circumcision (SMC)[1] has been widely recommended by WHO as part of a comprehensive HIV prevention strategy. However, literature pertaining to SMC amongst adolescents with a disability, and the deaf community in particular, is almost non-existent. This study sought to establish SMC prevalence, knowledge, attitude and post circ...

Background: Appropriate feeding practices are vital for child nutrition. Despite a low incidence of 0.73 in 1000, Ugandan children with oral clefts face feeding difficulties that affect their feeding practices, nutrition status and health. Objective: To determine the feeding practices, techniques and maternal feeding knowledge among children with o...

Background In Uganda 13% of persons have at least one form of disability. The United Nations’ Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities guarantees persons with disabilities the same level of right to access quality and affordable healthcare as persons without disability. Understanding the needs of women with walking disabilities is key...

Background: Informal payments during childbirth is a growing concern in many developing countries including Uganda yet there is limited understanding of their magnitude and determinants in Public and Private Not for Profit (PNFP) hospitals in Uganda. Aim: To establish the level of private health expenditure, in the form of informal payments and t...

For adolescent mothers in rural Eastern Uganda, nutrition and health may be compromised by many factors. Identifying individual and environmental needs and barriers at local levels is important to inform community-based interventions. This qualitative study used interviews based on constructs from social cognitive theory. 101 adolescent mothers, fa...

Globally, the issue of child abuse has received considerable coverage, and a number of child protection interventions exist in most countries, although their efficacy varies. This chapter argues that the epistemological underpinning of some interventions, particularly in developing countries, is flawed because it assumes a universality of childhood...

In October 2007 the Government of Uganda released the Peace Recovery and Development Plan (PRDP). This was developed in recognition of the need for a comprehensive framework for post-conflict recovery in northern Uganda. At the request of community and government leaders, USAID SPRING, in consultation with the Uganda Local Governments Association (...