IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/plo/pone00/0121766.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Portrayal of the Human Resource Crisis and Accountability in Healthcare: A Qualitative Analysis of Ugandan Newspapers

Author

Listed:
  • Silvia Wojczewski
  • Merlin Willcox
  • Vincent Mubangizi
  • Kathryn Hoffmann
  • Wim Peersman
  • Thomas Niederkrotenthaler
  • Silvia Natukunda
  • Samuel Maling
  • Manfred Maier
  • David Mant
  • Ruth Kutalek

Abstract

Background: Uganda is one of the 57 countries with a critical shortage of health workers. The aim of this study was to determine how the human resources and health service crisis was covered in Ugandan newspapers and, in particular, how the newspapers attributed accountability for problems in the health services. Methods: We collected all articles related to health workers and health services for the calendar year 2012 in the two largest national newspapers in Uganda (collection on daily basis) and in one local newspaper (collection on weekly basis). These articles were analysed qualitatively regarding the main themes covered and attribution of accountability. Results: The two more urban national newspapers published 229 articles on human resources and health services in Uganda (on average over two articles per week), whereas the local more rural newspaper published only a single article on this issue in the 12 month period. The majority of articles described problems in the health service without discussing accountability. The question of accountability is raised in only 46% of articles (106 articles). The responsibility of the government was discussed in 50 articles (21%), and negligence, corruption and misbehaviour by individual health workers was reported in 56 articles (25%). In the articles about corruption (n=35), 60% (21 articles) mention corruption by health workers and 40% (14 articles) mention corruption by government officials. Six articles defended the situation of health workers in Uganda. Conclusions: The coverage of accountability in the Ugandan newspapers surveyed is insufficient to generate informed debate on what political actions need to be taken to improve the crisis in health care and services. There exists not only an “inverse care law” but also an “inverse information law”: those sections of society with the greatest health needs and problems in accessing quality health care receive the least information about health services.

Suggested Citation

  • Silvia Wojczewski & Merlin Willcox & Vincent Mubangizi & Kathryn Hoffmann & Wim Peersman & Thomas Niederkrotenthaler & Silvia Natukunda & Samuel Maling & Manfred Maier & David Mant & Ruth Kutalek, 2015. "Portrayal of the Human Resource Crisis and Accountability in Healthcare: A Qualitative Analysis of Ugandan Newspapers," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 10(4), pages 1-18, April.
    • Handle: RePEc:plo:pone00:0121766
    DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0121766
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0121766
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article/file?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0121766&type=printable
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1371/journal.pone.0121766?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Collins, Patricia A. & Abelson, Julia & Pyman, Heather & Lavis, John N., 2006. "Are we expecting too much from print media? An analysis of newspaper coverage of the 2002 Canadian healthcare reform debate," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 63(1), pages 89-102, July.
    2. Justesen, Mogens K. & Bjørnskov, Christian, 2014. "Exploiting the Poor: Bureaucratic Corruption and Poverty in Africa," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 58(C), pages 106-115.
    3. Hayes, Michael & Ross, Ian E. & Gasher, Mike & Gutstein, Donald & Dunn, James R. & Hackett, Robert A., 2007. "Telling stories: News media, health literacy and public policy in Canada," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 64(9), pages 1842-1852, May.
    4. Blacklock, C. & Ward, A.M. & Heneghan, C. & Thompson, M., 2014. "Exploring the migration decisions of health workers and trainees from Africa: A meta-ethnographic synthesis," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 100(C), pages 99-106.
    5. Hunt, Jennifer, 2010. "Bribery in health care in Uganda," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 29(5), pages 699-707, September.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Qu, Mei & Tahvanainen, Liisa & Ahponen, Pirkkoliisa & Pelkonen, Paavo, 2009. "Bio-energy in China: Content analysis of news articles on Chinese professional internet platforms," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 37(6), pages 2300-2309, June.
    2. Ardıç, Özgül & Annema, Jan Anne & van Wee, Bert, 2015. "The reciprocal relationship between policy debate and media coverage: The case of road pricing policy in the Netherlands," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 78(C), pages 384-399.
    3. Michael Mbate, 2018. "Who bears the burden of bribery? Evidence from public service delivery in Kenya," Development Policy Review, Overseas Development Institute, vol. 36(S1), pages 321-340, March.
    4. Bashir Ahmad & Maria Ciupac-Ulici & Daniela-Georgeta Beju, 2021. "Economic and Non-Economic Variables Affecting Fraud in European Countries," Risks, MDPI, vol. 9(6), pages 1-17, June.
    5. Hunt, Jennifer & Laszlo, Sonia, 2012. "Is Bribery Really Regressive? Bribery’s Costs, Benefits, and Mechanisms," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 40(2), pages 355-372.
    6. José Noguera-Santaella, 2017. "Is Sub-Saharan Africa catching up?," Empirical Economics, Springer, vol. 52(2), pages 555-575, March.
    7. Bryant, Toba & Raphael, Dennis & Schrecker, Ted & Labonte, Ronald, 2011. "Canada: A land of missed opportunity for addressing the social determinants of health," Health Policy, Elsevier, vol. 101(1), pages 44-58, June.
    8. Berggren, Niclas & Bjørnskov, Christian, 2020. "Corruption, judicial accountability and inequality: Unfair procedures may benefit the worst-off," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 170(C), pages 341-354.
    9. Jakimow, Tanya, 2018. "A moral atmosphere of development as a share: Consequences for urban development in Indonesia," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 108(C), pages 47-56.
    10. Andreas Bergh & Christian Bjørnskov, 2021. "Does economic freedom boost growth for everyone?," Kyklos, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 74(2), pages 170-186, May.
    11. Armand, Alex & Coutts, Alexander & Vicente, Pedro C. & Vilela, Inês, 2023. "Measuring corruption in the field using behavioral games," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 218(C).
    12. Eugen Dimant & Guglielmo Tosato, 2018. "Causes And Effects Of Corruption: What Has Past Decade'S Empirical Research Taught Us? A Survey," Journal of Economic Surveys, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 32(2), pages 335-356, April.
    13. Michael Breen & Robert Gillanders & Gemma Mcnulty & Akisato Suzuki, 2017. "Gender and Corruption in Business," Journal of Development Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 53(9), pages 1486-1501, September.
    14. Mark W Skinner & Alun E Joseph & Rachel V Herron, 2013. "Spaces of Resistance or Acquiescence? Learning from Media Discourses on the Role of Voluntarism in Ageing Communities," Environment and Planning A, , vol. 45(2), pages 438-450, February.
    15. Lawrence, Jody & Kearns, Robin A. & Park, Julie & Bryder, Linda & Worth, Heather, 2008. "Discourses of disease: Representations of tuberculosis within New Zealand newspapers 2002-2004," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 66(3), pages 727-739, February.
    16. Andreas Freytag & Muhammad Faraz Riaz, 2021. "Corruption and Access to Socio-Economic Services in Africa," CESifo Working Paper Series 8882, CESifo.
    17. Yaping Wu & David Bardey & Sanxi Liz, 2015. "Health Care Insurance Payment Policy when the Physician and Patient May Collude," Documentos CEDE 12855, Universidad de los Andes, Facultad de Economía, CEDE.
    18. Paola Annoni & Nicholas Charron, 2019. "Measurement Assessment in Cross-Country Comparative Analysis: Rasch Modelling on a Measure of Institutional Quality," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 141(1), pages 31-60, January.
    19. Cooray, Arusha & Dzhumashev, Ratbek & Schneider, Friedrich, 2017. "How Does Corruption Affect Public Debt? An Empirical Analysis," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 90(C), pages 115-127.
    20. Aurelian-PetruÈ™ PLOPEANU & Daniel HOMOCIANU, 2024. "Prisoner in the cage of history? Its influence in understanding the current tolerance of bribery in Romania," Eastern Journal of European Studies, Centre for European Studies, Alexandru Ioan Cuza University, vol. 15, pages 41-71, June.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:plo:pone00:0121766. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: plosone (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://journals.plos.org/plosone/ .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.