The United Kingdom versus Ugandan Health Systems in Terms of Service Delivery and Health Workforce
Yussuf Ikram Mohamed
This paper critically reflects on and assesses the service delivery and health workforce of Uganda in comparison to the service delivery and health workforce of the United Kingdom. The quality of the respective country’s service delivery is determined using the five core indicators set by the WHO. Service quality is assessed by analyzing the distribution of health facilities per 10 000 people, the number and distribution of inpatient beds per 10 000 people, and the annual number of outpatient department visits per 10 000 people. The general service-readiness score of its facilities is compared. Service-specific availability by comparing and analyzing the proportion of health facilities that offer specific health services, as well as the number and distribution of health facilities that offer these specific services per 10 000 people. Service-specific readiness score for health facilities and general service quality is compared. For the health workforce, the sources of information for the health workforce in the country is assessed and the WHO’s three core indicators to analyze and compare the country’s health workforce. The first core indicator is the number of health workers per 10 000 people. The second is the distribution of health workers by occupation-specific specialization, region, and sex. The last is the annual number of graduates at education institutions, as well as level and field of education. The waiting period in these hospitals is only a fraction of the waiting period in Uganda for similar care. There are only 395 inpatient beds in the UK per 100 000 people, and the number of beds is decreasing throughout Europe. There are no significant zone differences in service delivery in the UK. The Service Delivery Assessment of Uganda more accurate, representative, and comparable with the UK health service delivery, as these data sets were available for both countries in the same year. Women account for three-quarters of the UK’s healthcare and are still the minority in senior roles. Both Uganda and the UK have shortages in the health workforce. The UK has a highly more efficient health system than Uganda in terms of both service delivery and the health workforce. Although both countries spend a relatively similar portion of their GDP on health, the UK spends a lot more money on the maintenance and promotion of the health of its citizens and residents. Private and NGO-based healthcare is vast, and plays a significant part in Uganda’s health system, while the UK’s private health sector is significantly small and NGO healthcare non-existent. Gender disparities are rampant equally in both the UK and Uganda, as women struggle to gain access to more senior positions, although women do account for the greater number of collective healthcare workers.
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