Health Workers Feeling Effects of Staff, Supply Shortages at Clinics in Southwestern Uganda

Health workers with Medical Teams International, a medical non-governmental organization, "say they are overwhelmed" by high demand at five health clinics in two southwestern Ugandan refugee centers, PlusNews reports. The refugees, "many of whom came from conflict-prone areas of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC)," and local residents are in need of HIV and tuberculosis (TB) prevention information, and care and treatment services, according to the news service. "Uganda suffers from a chronic shortage of health workers -- less than half of the vacant health positions are filled -- but the recent influx of refugees fleeing violence in neighboring DRC has put even more pressure on [the region's] health services," PlusNews writes. Physicians, who see 30 to 50 patients daily and often work double shifts, say gaps in the supplies of antiretroviral (ARV) and TB drugs poses concern, as does trying to follow-up with patients who may not return for visits, the news service notes (3/29).