Young people who went to get vaccinated in Lira City said that the rooms in which the vaccine is administered have no privacy – it’s like a hall with over 20 people and you can find men bare-chested as they unbuttoned their shirts to receive the injection on their shoulder. This is bad.
The hospital should have created or used small enclosures with cloth, hospital screens which fold in four steps; and are very portable. Just to have some kind of privacy. It is awkward for one to go in dressed well then remove his coat, tie, shirt then remain in a vest or even bared before others!
Also, some ladies do suffer the same as they end up trying to pull off some parts of their blouse to give space on their shoulders for the injection.
By James Opollo, a young adult that is benefiting from the CPAR Uganda project: “Mentoring young adults into innovators against poverty”, and because of that is also participating as a researcher in another CPAR Uganda project: “Challenging Categories: Educated unemployed youth as institutional innovators in rural Uganda” that CPAR Uganda is implementing in partnership with Lira University and the University of East Anglia.
Opollo’s observations which he shared in comment on a blog post by our Managing Director, Ms. Norah Owaraga. titled: “Tuberculosis shaped fashion covid shaping?” should trigger the Ministry of Health, as a whole, and the different healthcare facilities that are administering vaccinations countrywide, to reflect on their respective CULTURAL COMPETENCE.
Cultural competence is defined as the ability of health systems to provide care to patients with diverse values, beliefs, and behaviours by tailoring delivery to meet patients’ social, cultural, and linguistic needs.
Wasim Hanif et al in “Cultural competence in covid-19 rollout,” published in the bmj
CPAR Uganda Ltd 
One response to “Culture shouldn’t be ignored in Covid-19 vaccination”
I think putting over 20 people in a room is not proper as per the SOP’s. People should also consider the fact that they are going to be vaccinated and dress according to the occasion. This helps to save time and also simplifies the work of the medical workers.
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