Uganda Public Health Fellowship Program, Ministry of Health, Kampala, Uganda.
Global Health Institute, University of Antwerp, Antwerp, Belgium.
BMC Public Health. 2021 Mar 8;21(1):467. doi: 10.1186/s12889-021-10532-2.
BACKGROUND: In March 2020, the World Health Organization (WHO) declared COVID-19 a pandemic. Many countries in Sub-Saharan Africa, Uganda inclusive, implemented lockdowns, curfew, banning of both private and public transport systems, and mass gatherings to minimize spread. Social control measures for COVID-19 are reported to increase violence and discrimination globally, including in Uganda as some may be difficult to implement resulting in the heavy deployment of law enforcement. Media reports indicated that cases of violence and discrimination had increased in Uganda's communities following the lockdown. We estimated the incidence and factors associated with experiencing violence and discrimination among Ugandans during the COVID-19 lockdown to inform control and prevention measures. METHODS: In April 2020, we conducted a secondary analysis of cross-sectional data under the International Citizen Project (ICP) to assess adherence to public health measures and their impact on the COVID-19 outbreak in Uganda. We analyzed data on violence and discrimination from the ICP study. We performed descriptive statistics for all the participants' characteristics and created a binary outcome variable called experiencing violence and/or discrimination. We performed logistic regression analysis to identify the factors associated with experiencing violence and discrimination. RESULTS: Of the 1726 ICP study participants, 1051 (58.8%) were males, 841 (48.7%) were currently living with a spouse or partner, and 376 (21.8%) had physically attended work for more than 3 days in the past week. Overall, 145 (8.4%) experienced any form of violence and/or discrimination by any perpetrator, and 46 (31.7%) of the 145 reported that it was perpetrated by a law enforcement officer. Factors associated with experiencing violence or discrimination were: being male (AOR = 1.60 CI:1.10-2.33), having attended work physically for more than 3 days in the past week (AOR = 1.52 CI:1.03-2.23), and inability to access social or essential health services since the epidemic started (AOR = 3.10 CI:2.14-4.50). CONCLUSION: A substantial proportion of Ugandan residents experienced violence and/or discrimination during the COVID-19 lockdown, mostly perpetrated by law enforcement officers. We recommend mitigation of the collateral impact of lockdowns with interventions that focus on improving policing quality, ensuring continuity of essential services, and strengthening support systems for vulnerable groups including males.
背景:2020 年 3 月,世界卫生组织(WHO)宣布 COVID-19 大流行。包括乌干达在内的撒哈拉以南非洲国家实施了封锁、宵禁、禁止私人和公共交通系统以及群众集会等措施,以最大程度地减少传播。据报道,COVID-19 期间的社会控制措施在全球范围内增加了暴力和歧视,包括在乌干达,由于某些措施难以实施,导致执法力度加大。媒体报道称,封锁后,乌干达社区的暴力和歧视案件有所增加。我们估计 COVID-19 封锁期间乌干达人经历暴力和歧视的发生率及其相关因素,以为控制和预防措施提供信息。
方法:2020 年 4 月,我们对国际公民项目(ICP)下的横断面数据进行了二次分析,以评估乌干达公共卫生措施的遵守情况及其对 COVID-19 爆发的影响。我们分析了 ICP 研究中关于暴力和歧视的数据。我们对所有参与者的特征进行了描述性统计,并创建了一个称为经历暴力和/或歧视的二元结果变量。我们进行了逻辑回归分析,以确定与经历暴力和歧视相关的因素。
结果:在 1726 名 ICP 研究参与者中,有 1051 名(58.8%)为男性,841 名(48.7%)目前与配偶或伴侣同住,376 名(21.8%)在过去一周内至少有 3 天实际工作。总体而言,有 145 人(8.4%)经历过任何形式的暴力和/或歧视,其中 46 人(31.7%)报告说这种行为是执法人员所为。与经历暴力或歧视相关的因素包括:男性(AOR=1.60 CI:1.10-2.33)、过去一周至少有 3 天实际工作(AOR=1.52 CI:1.03-2.23)和自疫情开始以来无法获得社会或基本卫生服务(AOR=3.10 CI:2.14-4.50)。
结论:在 COVID-19 封锁期间,相当一部分乌干达居民经历了暴力和/或歧视,主要是执法人员所为。我们建议采取减轻封锁的附带影响的措施,重点改善警务质量,确保基本服务的连续性,并加强对弱势群体(包括男性)的支持系统。
BMC Public Health. 2021-3-8
Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2020-11-27
BMC Public Health. 2021-12-16
Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2021-1-21
PLOS Glob Public Health. 2025-2-7
Arch Public Health. 2024-8-6
Front Public Health. 2024
Indian J Med Ethics. 2020-5-7
Acta Biomed. 2020-3-19
BMC Public Health. 2018-3-15
BMC Public Health. 2006-11-20