Enreca Health > Research Projects > TORCH
Tororo Community Health (TORCH)
Period
1994-2005
Main Collaborating Institutions
- Institute of Anthropology, University of Copenhagen
- Institute for Epidemiology and Social Medicine, University of Aarhus
- Child Health and Development Centre, Makerere University
Principal Project Coordinators
Dr. Jessica Jitta, Director
Child Health and Development Centre,
Makerere University,
P.O. Box 6717, Kampala, Uganda
Tel: +256 41 541 684
Fax: +256 41 531 677
Email: TORCH
Professor Susan Reynolds Whyte
Institute of Anthropology,
University of Copenhagen,
Frederiksholms Kanal 4,
DK-1220 Copenhagen,
Denmark
Tel: +45 35 32 34 77
Fax: +45 35 32 34 65
Email: susan.reynolds.whyte @ anthro.ku.dk
Project Description
The overall aim of the project is capacity building through strengthening of the research capacity at Makerere University. The capacity building is based on research education at Ph.D. and M.Sc. levels and is implemented through research projects under the heading health systems. The research capacity building expands the possibilities for researching changes in the interplay between health systems and local communities and concerns itself with the organisation and functioning of the health system in the district at various levels, as well as describing the health resources available to the local population.
The approach is multidisciplinary and includes analyses of health systems, health economics, medical anthropology, epidemiology, and data collection methods, with a primary focus on women and children. The main themes include: identifying indicators of change in the two districts and working with district teams to improve their health management information systems, health system studies (provision of drugs, quality of care, decentralisation, health care workers), treatment seeking (severe malaria and AIDS), reproductive health and family health, and food security.
In the first phase, three kinds of studies were undertaken focusing on: the system of health care provision; the users of health care; and the interface between community and health system. Since malaria is the most commonly reported disease, a second interface study is now underway on the Quality of Malaria Care in government units and drug shops. Unlike the first one, this second study will follow up patients at home and will do laboratory investigations of the level of parasites and chloroquine in the blood. It will also carry out analyses of the medicines provided. Basis ethnographic research in each of the four language groups has yielded rich material on the cultural and social contexts in which health is produced and sickness is managed. A household survey has documented selected social and health characteristics in five locations. Studies of the health care system have yielded an overview of recent history as well as specific data on quality of care Experiential research training is provided for novice researchers, whose projects focus on TORCH and district related priorities such as sanitation, immunisation, HIV/AIDS and child mortality. Courses and workshops have covered the following: IT, food security, analytical epidemiology, and treatment seeking practices. Research results were disseminated in two district and workshops and discussions of research activities were held with Danish Embassy staff.
Ugandan researchers are studying at Ph.D. or M.Sc. levels, and strategic health research is being carried out jointly in the area of primary health care through longitudinal studies in a rural district. .
Further information: Institute of Anthropology, University of Copenhagen.
