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Background Integrated care is increasingly used to manage chronic conditions. In Uganda, the integration of HIV, diabetes and hypertension care has been piloted, to leverage the advantages of well facilitated and established HIV health care provision structures. This qualitative study aimed to explore HIV stigma dynamics whilst investigating multi-stakeholder perceptions and experiences of providing and receiving integrated management of HIV, diabetes and hypertension at selected government clinics in Central Uganda. Methods We adopted a qualitative-observational design. Participants were purposively selected. In-depth interviews were conducted with patients and with health care providers, clinical researchers, policy makers, and representatives from international nongovernmental organizations (NGOs). Focus group discussions were conducted with community members and leaders. Clinical procedures in the integrated care clinic were observed. Data were managed using Nvivo 12 and analyzed thematically. Results Triangulated findings revealed diverse multi-stakeholder perceptions around HIV related stigma. Integrated care reduced the frequency with which patients with combinations of HIV, diabetes, hypertension visited health facilities, reduced the associated treatment costs, increased interpersonal relationships among patients and healthcare providers, and increased the capacity of health care providers to manage multiple chronic conditions. Integration reduced stigma through creating opportunities for health education, which allayed patient fears and increased their resolve to enroll for and adhere to treatment. Patients also had an opportunity to offer and receive psycho-social support and coupled with the support they received from healthcare worker. This strengthened patient-patient and provider-patient relationships, which are building blocks of service integration and of HIV stigma reduction. Although the model significantly reduced stigma, it did not eradicate service level challenges and societal discrimination among HIV patients. Conclusion The study reveals that, in a low resource setting like Uganda, integration of HIV, diabetes and hypertension care can improve patient experiences of care for multiple chronic conditions, and that integrated clinics may reduce HIV related stigma.

Additional file 1: Table 2. Charted Records of United Kingdom publications on anabolic androgenic steroids and associated IPED use (2016-2020).

Ireland has a longstanding history of diverse volunteer action (Volunteering Ireland, 2010a). Ireland’s current economic recession has impacted on the community and voluntary sector, with frequent contraction in staff numbers and incomes, and increasing reliance on volunteer participation (Harvey, 2012). This study utilised social capital theory to garner a phenomenological understanding of the contribution of volunteering to perceived social capital amongst Irish volunteers and host organisation representatives. A convenience sample of 28 participants (17 volunteers and 11 organisation representatives) was interviewed. A shift in personal and social definitions of volunteering were described, with informal volunteering increasingly replaced by structured, formalized and regulated volunteer placements. Volunteers described their experiences as contributing to increased personal well being and sense of purpose, development of friendships and meeting new people. The volunteer participants identified volunteering activity as a specified community need, providing work related experiences, fulfillment in free time and opportunity for up-skilling. Integration of volunteers into the organisation’s workforce was described as dependent on duration, intensity of interaction and scope of volunteer contributions. Power differentials and a lack of trust between volunteers and staff, was described, as was a lack of volunteer recognition staff. Subsequently, some volunteers identified and aligned themselves within the wider social volunteer network rather than their host organisation. The research reflected an emergent consumerist approach to volunteering and underscores the need to preserve informal social networks of community volunteers, alongside the development of more formalized work specific routes for volunteering in Ireland.