Globally, COVID‐19 lockdown measures have exposed children to more sexual, physical and emotional abuse and neglect. Although the COVID‐19 pandemic is likely to have long‐lasting adverse psychological effects on children, there have been comparatively few studies on children's health as compared with adults, particularly in low‐income countries. Uganda implemented one of the most stringent lockdowns with bans on transportation and gatherings as well as the closure of schools, stores and places of worship. In order to address the dearth of information in less developed regions, the article aims to provide an insight into the increased cases of child abuse in Uganda during the COVID‐19 pandemic. The data and information were primarily compiled from government and child welfare organisation open‐source databases. The psychosocial impacts of COVID‐19 have greatly disrupted the living conditions of children, limiting their access to basic needs such as food and health care. In addition, there is a lack of social support, thus putting children at an increased risk of different forms of child abuse. Since the implementation of the COVID‐19 lockdown in Uganda, there has been a rise in the incidence of child abuse. Increased cases of physical and sexual abuse against children have been reported in different parts of the country as well as increased cases of child labour. To strengthen child protection during the COVID‐19 pandemic, this article highlights a need for multi‐level stakeholder cooperation to ensure increased funding, increased community awareness and sensitisation, early detection and effective management and referral of child abuse cases.

Background. Within the past decade, Africa has faced several recurrent outbreaks of Ebola virus disease (EVD), including the 2014‐2016 outbreak in West Africa and the recent 2018‐2020 Kivu outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo. The study thus aimed at quantifying and mapping the scientific output of EVD research published within 2010‐2020 though a bibliometric perspective. Methods. EVD‐related publications from 2010 to 2020 were retrieved from the Web of Science (WoS) and Scopus databases by using the keywords ‘Ebola’, ‘Ebola Virus Disease’, ‘Ebolas’, and ‘ebolavirus’. Biblioshiny software (using R‐studio cloud) was used to categorise and evaluate authors’, countries’ and journals’ contribution. VOSviewer was used for network visualisation. Results. According to the used search strategy, a total of 3865 and 3848 EVD documents were published in WoS and Scopus, respectively. The average citation per document was 16.1 (WoS) and 16.3 (Scopus). The results show an overall increase in the publication trend within the study period. The leading countries in EVD research were the USA and UK, with over 100 papers in both databases, including Nigeria and South Africa. NIAID and CDC‐USA were the most influential institutions, while “Infectious Diseases” and “Medicine” were the most decisive research fields. The most contributing authors included Feldmann H and Qiu XG with over 60 papers in each database, while Journal of Infectious Diseases was the most crucial journal. The most cited article was from Aylward et al. published in 2014, while recent years displayed a keyword focus on “double‐blind”, “efficacy”, “ring vaccination” and “drug effect”. Conclusion. This bibliometric analysis provides an updated historical perspective of progress in EVD research and has highlighted the role played by various stakeholders. However, the contribution of African countries and institutions is not sufficiently reflected, implying a need for increased funding and focus on EVD research for effective prevention and control.

Background: Almost all maternal deaths and related morbidities occur in low-income countries. Childbirth supervised by a skilled provider in a health facility is a key intervention to prevent maternal and perinatal morbidity and mortality. Our study aimed to establish the factors associated with health facility utilization during childbirth in Uganda. Methods: We used the Uganda Demographic and Health Survey 2016 data of 10,152 women aged 15 to 49 years. The study focused on their most recent live birth in 5 years preceding the survey. We applied multistage stratified sampling to select study participants and we conducted multivariable logistic regression to establish the factors associated with health facility utilization during childbirth, using SPSS (version 25). Results: The proportion of women who gave birth at a health facility was 76.6% (7780/10,152: (95% confidence interval, CI, 75.8–77.5). The odds of women aged 15–19 years giving birth at health facilities were twice as those of women aged 40 to 49 years (adjusted odds ratio, AOR = 2.29; 95% CI: 1.71–3.07). Residing in urban areas and attending antenatal care (ANC) were associated with health facility use. The odds of women in the northern region of Uganda using health facilities were three times of those of women in the central region (AOR = 3.13; 95% CI: 2.15–4.56). Women with tertiary education (AOR = 4.96; 95% CI: 2.71–9.11) and those in the richest wealth quintile (AOR = 4.55; 95% CI: 3.27–6.32) had higher odds of using a health facility during child birth as compared to those with no education and those in the poorest wealth quintile, respectively. Muslims, Baganda, women exposed to mass media and having no problem with distance to health facility had higher odds of utilizing health facilities during childbirth as compared to Catholic, non Baganda, women not exposed to mass media and those having challenges with distance to access healthcare. Conclusion: Health facility utilization during childbirth was high and it was associated with decreasing age, increasing level of education and wealth index, urban residence, Northern region of Uganda, ANC attendance, exposure to mass media, tribe, religion and distance to the nearby health facility. We recommend that interventions to promote health facility childbirths in Uganda target the poor, less educated, and older women especially those residing in rural areas with less exposure to mass media.