Healthy Child Uganda survey of knowledge, attitude and behaviour of village health team members toward their health care responsibilities in southwest Uganda.

1Department of Psychiatry, Mbarara University of Science and Technology; 2Healthy Child Uganda (HCU); 3Department of Paediatrics, Mbarara University of Science and Technology, Mbarara, Uganda; 4Department of Paediatrics, Dalhousie University, Halifax, Nova Scotia; 5CPS/CCHCSP Mentor Correspondence: Dr Noni MacDonald, Department of Paediatrics, IWK Health Centre, 5850/5980 University Avenue, Halifax, Nova Scotia B3K 6R8. Website www.microresearch.ca Accepted for publication July 12, 2012 The village health team (VHT) program was started in 2001 by the Ministry of Health in Uganda and later supported by Healthy Child Uganda (HCU) (www.healthychilduganda.org), a collaboration between a Ugandan and several Canadian universities and the Canadian Paediatric Society, with a goal of improving maternal child health in southwest Uganda. VHT members are volunteers with brief, VHT-specific training who work together to promote healthy practices in sanitation, immunization and good nutrition in the community and at the household level, as well as appropriate use of District Health Centres. The aim of the present study was to determine the knowledge, attitudes and behaviours of VHT members toward their village health care responsibilities comparing HCUsupported versus Ugandan government (UG)-supported VHTs.