Both hospitals are regional referral hospitals with Entebbe hospital serving as the regional referral hospital for the most populous district in Uganda, Wakiso district and its surroundings with over three million people altogether. These two hospitals were taken as case studies because of their centeredness in the COVID-19 response in the two countries. We interviewed frontline health workers from two hospitals, Seven in Entebbe Hospital and Six in Tamale Teaching Hospital. The health workers included four nurses, five doctors, one hygienist, one ambulance driver, and a hospital manager. This time was deemed so vital to examine the two countries’ responses to the pandemic and how the responses and the course of the disease may have impacted on the health workers in the two countries. The interviews were carried out between the months of May and July which was 2–3 months into the pandemic. Questions were as well asked to draw out health workers’ experiences, perceptions, and explanations on the coping mechanisms employed toward the challenges observed. Paul Bukuluki, in Mental Health Effects of COVID-19, 2021 MethodsĪ phenomenological approach was employed using in-depth interview techniques to establish experiences, beliefs, and perceptions on the mental health and psychosocial effects COVID-19 has had on frontline health workers treating people who are being treated for COVID-19 ( Groenewald, 2004 Jodi, 1994).
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