TY - JOUR T1 - Retaining Patients in Care: An Important but Neglected Challenge JF - Global Health: Science and Practice JO - GLOB HEALTH SCI PRACT SP - 1 LP - 2 DO - 10.9745/GHSP-D-19-00091 VL - 7 IS - 1 AU - Stephen Hodgins Y1 - 2019/03/22 UR - http://www.ghspjournal.org/content/7/1/1.abstract N2 - A hospital-based follow-up program in Uganda helped improve retention of patients in care across a range of health problems. Although the specific approach may not be replicable in other settings, hospitals in Uganda and beyond should consider how they can improve retention of patients requiring long-term care, including for HIV, TB, malnutrition, and noncommunicable diseases.See related article by Alizadeh.A challenge all health care systems struggle with is ensuring needed continuity of care. The less robust the system, the more difficult that is. The article by Alizadeh et al., in this issue of GHSP, gives an account of efforts made by a rural district hospital in Kisoro, Uganda, to improve retention of patients across several different services in the hospital including those with HIV, receiving antiretrovirals (ARVs); tuberculosis (TB); severe malnutrition; and other chronic, noncommunicable diseases (NCDs).1The hospital developed a defaulter-tracking program, under which outreach staff would periodically visit clusters of villages once a threshold number of patients lost to follow-up was reached for that cluster, and encourage patients to return for follow-up treatment. The hospital made available a motorcycle for this purpose and offered field staff an incentive for patients successfully found and referred back for care.Similar programs have been introduced elsewhere in sub-Saharan Africa. However, as … ER -