Ugandan health workers speak: the rewards and the realities

This report is based on the accounts of 90 Ugandan health workers at the front line – qualified nurses and midwives, nursing assistants, clinical officers and doctors – and 15 of their facility and district managers, all holding a nursing or medical qualification, some of whom also worked as clinical officers or doctors in the facilities they managed. The research explored with them the rewards and the challenges, explanations for perceived poor practices and promising solutions. The interim findings of this ongoing research, reported here, focus on the rewards of being a health worker and how low pay affects them.

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Ugandan health workers speak: the rewards and the realities