Page 132 - GHES-2-2

Global Health Econ Sustain

ORIGINAL RESEARCH ARTICLE
Community-oriented primary care to improve

health in older adults of rural Uganda: A

feasibility study

Patricia Bloom * , Harrison Bloom 1 , Iraguha Moses 2,3 , Joseph Stephens 4 ,
1
Immaculate Owembabazi 2,3 , Musominali Sam 2,3 , and Gerald Paccione 4
1 Department of Geriatrics and Palliative Medicine, Icahn School of Medicine of Mount Sinai,
New York, United States of America
2 Kisoro District Hospital, Kisoro, Uganda
3 Doctors for Global Health Uganda, Kisoro, Uganda
4 Department of Medicine, Albert Einstein College of Medicine, Bronx, New York, United States of
America

Abstract
The developing world is aging rapidly within economies that lack the resources
and personnel to deliver adequate health and social services to older adults.
This study examines the feasibility of utilizing village health workers (VHWs) to
Academic editor:
Mihajlo Jakovljevic M.D. Ph.D. MAE deliver low-cost interventions aimed at improving health and quality of life for
older adults living in rural villages. VHWs, initially trained to deliver preventive,
*Corresponding author:
Patricia Bloom clinical, and educational services to younger adults and children, were retrained
patriciaabloom@gmail.com to conduct screening and interventions addressing issues related to vision,
hearing, mobility, pain, depression, and energy poverty in older adults. After
Citation: Bloom, P., Bloom, H.,
Moses, I., et al. (2024). Community- a 5-year period, 3,615 adults aged 60 years and above received the following
oriented primary care to improve interventions: 2,282 pairs of reading glasses, 690 cerumen removals, 92 listening
health in older adults of rural devices, 671 canes, ongoing paracetamol for 3,450 recipients, depression support
Uganda: A feasibility study. Global
Health Econ Sustain, 2(2): 3000. for 69 individuals, and 1,746 solar lights. Older adults reported improvements
https://doi.org/10.36922/ghes.3000 in their ability to read, sew, prepare food, sort crops, and perform personal
Received: February 23, 2024 care; enhanced hearing; improved mobility on rocky terrain without falling;
reduced pain during farming and daily activities; improved mood and reduced
Accepted: April 19, 2024
social isolation; and high levels of satisfaction and a further reduction in social
Published Online: May 30, 2024 isolation with the use of solar lights. Although the study is limited by the largely
Copyright: © 2024 Author(s). qualitative nature of the outcome data, it demonstrates the feasibility of utilizing
This is an Open-Access article VHWs to deliver interventions that positively affect the health and quality of life
distributed under the terms of the of older adults at a low cost. For developing economies facing rapidly growing
Creative Commons Attribution
License, permitting distribution, populations of older adults, this study provides a model for community-based
and reproduction in any medium, geriatric support that can be adapted to local needs, economic conditions, and
provided the original work is available personnel capabilities.
properly cited.
Publisher’s Note: AccScience
Publishing remains neutral with Keywords: Rural health care; Older adults; Village health worker; Community-
regard to jurisdictional claims in based health care; Geriatrics; Community health worker; Uganda health care;
published maps and institutional
affiliations. Screening

Volume 2 Issue 2 (2024) 1 https://doi.org/10.36922/ghes.3000