Challenges Faced by Health Unit Management Committees In Rendering Health Services to Communities in East-Central Uganda
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Date
2020-06
Authors
Muwanguzi, David Gangu
Otieno, George Ochieng
Kibaara, Kenneth Rucha
Mugisha, John Francis
Muluya, Kharim Mwebaza
Kithuka, Peter
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Direct Research Journal
Abstract
Like other countries, Uganda implements programs
that help to enhance health services delivery in communities. One
of the strategies to ensure this is by facilitating the construction of
health centres and equipping them with adequate staff including
doctors, nurses and Health Unit Management Committees
(HUMCs), who are the basis for this study. However, it has been
established that much as HUMCs monitor the general
administration of the HCIII on behalf of the Local Council and the
Ministry of Local Government, done within the policy and
guidelines of Ministry of Health, the environment under which
they work is characterized by a number of challenges which affect
the effectiveness of HUMCs services. The study was largely
qualitative and only interviews were used to obtain responses
from HUMCs and a few administrators. Purposive sampling
technique was largely used to select the sample size of 288
respondents who were predominantly HUMcs. The challenges are
multiple. Results were analyzed qualitatively. Where necessary
and to a small extent, verbatim forms were used to report the
original voices of HUMCs. First, HUMCs do not participate in most
of the meetings even those concerning events at health centres.
This limits endeavors for transparency and accountability. In
addition, rewards system at health centres rarely caters for the
HUMCs who are tasked with the duty to monitor all activities. This
reduces the morale of HUMCs to work hard because they do not
feel part of the working team at HUMCs. Another great challenge
was on the lack of proper coordination between HUMCs at health
centres and district health teams (DHTs) which has resulted in the
design of rewards systems not catering for HUMCs. Conclusively, a
number of challenges including lack of adequate training, low
participation in meetings and lack of seminars as well as
workshops to intimate them with various tasks of their work
characterized delivery of health services to communities by
HUMCs. At the moment, the HUMCs are tasked to oversee many
responsibilities but are rarely appreciated, salaries come late, and
the chances to have a say in the vertical planning system are
minimal. Therefore, the HUMCs are not as effective as expected
due to the numerous challenges they face. The key
recommendation was that members of HUMCs should be trained
for at least 2 weeks by a group of well-drilled mentors and the
training should be hands-on (mentorship). This will enable them
to appreciate the role, tasks and challenges and participate in
improving services. It is also recommended that MoH trains a pool
of mentors at least 10 per district to be able to train all the
members of HUMC in each district.
Description
article
Keywords
Challenges, delivery of services health unit management committees, health centers
Citation
Kenneth, R. K., Muwanguzi, D. G., Muluya, K. M., Otieno, G. O., Kithuka, P., & Mugisha, J. F. (2020). Challenges faced by Health Unit Management Committees in rendering Health Services to Communities in East-central Uganda.