General
Kasese leaders trained on using One Health Approach to respond to community health concerns
Over 20 Local Government Administrators in Kasese District together with Wildlife Personnel from Queen Elizabeth National Park have been trained on how to use the One Health Approach to respond to community health concerns. This was at the Leadership Capacity Building in Disease Prevention, Detection and Response held on 30th April -3rd May 2019 at Nyaika Hotel Fort Portal.
The One Health is a collaborative, multi-sectoral, and multidisciplinary approach that focuses on achieving optimal health outcomes by recognizing the interconnection between people animals, plants and their shared environment.
The idea has been embraced globally by World Health Organizations (WHO), Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO), World Organizations for Animals (OIE) under the Health and Global Security Agenda (GHSA) as a strategy for promoting the collaborative effort of multiple disciplines working locally, nationally and globally to attain optimal health for people, animals and environment.
One Health Central and Eastern Africa (OHCEA) is a network of 16 universities in 8 countries in Eastern, Central and Western African region. Makerere University School of Public Health, College of Veterinary Medicine, Animal Resources and Biosecurity (COVAB) and Mbarara University of Science and Technology (MUST) are focal points for the network in Uganda. Prof. William Bazeyo, the Deputy Vice Chancellor for Finance and Administration- Makerere University is the Principal Investigator.
The Leadership Capacity Building in Disease Prevention, Detection and Response for Local Government Administrators in Kasese District and Wildlife Personnel from Queen Elizabeth National Park was organized by Makerere University School of Public Health (Mak-SPH) and College of Veterinary Medicine, Animal Resources and Biosecurity (COVAB) with support from One Health Central and Eastern Africa (OHCEA) in partnership with the USAID-funded One Health Workforce (OHW) project.
The training focused on;
- Introducing the multi-sectoral or one health strategy at district level to foster collaboration amongst entities called upon to prevent and respond to events of public health concern
- Demonstrating multi-sectoral or one health skills necessary to foster leadership, communication, collaboration and partnership within and across districts in addressing outbreaks and other complex health challenges
- Documenting, for the purpose of harmonization and coordination, district level outbreak response procedures, communication and actions including the dissemination of underlying and governing laws, legal texts and administrative directives in collaboration with the National Task Forces or National Disaster Risk Reduction Committees
- Identifying hazards of local, national and foreign origin threatening the health and well- being of communities and;
- Preparing district officers and wild life officers to develop a response plan relevant for their communities.
It was a pilot training through which, participants while sharing their daily experiences in working groups appreciated the role of multi-sectoral collaboration or the One Health approach in managing health related challenges in communities. During the interactive sessions that were held for four days, participants learnt how to identify and prioritize health risks or hazards in communities; prepare risk/disaster/hazard response plans; harness technical expertise collaboratively across technical departments of health, agriculture, natural resources, education, and the administrative departments.
Interestingly, disease outbreaks (human and animal), floods, plant diseases and pests ranked highly among the challenges with a great impact on the communities.
According to Dr. Peninah Nsamba-a lecturer at the College of Veterinary Medicine and Animal Biosecurity, Makerere University (COVAB), the training also enabled participants to understand the roles of Local Government leaders in relation to health risks, and hazards.
“It is getting clearer that solving a complex health problem requires multidisciplinary, multi-sectoral expertise and cooperation such as the one health approach. This training is re-positioning leaders to solve local challenges using a number of multi-disciplinary approaches. The One Health approach holds a lot of promise in mitigating public health threats,” she said.
The collaborative communication, community and resource mobilization during outbreaks, hazards and disasters were also among the critical areas that were discussed.
Over the past years, Kasese district has experienced frequent hazards and disasters such as disease outbreaks, floods, landslides, among others; that have resulted in deaths, damage to property and loss of livelihoods. This has been attributed to the strategic location of Kasese and the activities that are carried out within the district.
Located in Western part of Uganda, Kasese District is a hilly area with five major rivers; Rwimi, Mubuku, Nyamwamba, Nyamughasani and Lhubiriha. The area is predominantly agricultural, relying on farming for employment and income. Kasese district also has industrial potential with two operational mining operations currently mining sulphur, copper and cobalt at Kilembe. Additionally, the area houses Queen Elizabeth National park- one of the biggest national parks in Uganda. The District also boarders the Democratic Republic of Congo.
In a presentation he made on, The Overview of One Health Concept: Contribution of the Administrators and Social Scientists, Dr. Paul Ssajjakambwe remarked that the relationship between people, plants, animals, ecosystem and environment in Kasese is so strong and this has rendered the district vulnerable to health risks and hazards. According to Dr. Ssajjakambwe Kasese district has been hit by disease outbreaks such as Cholera, Ebola, Typhoid and Anthrax due to the misuse of agro chemicals, animal-human contamination, floods, environment pollution, and Congo-Kasese boarder interactions.
“The impact, these hazards have left on humans, the economy, especially agriculture, and ecosystems calls for a collective and collaborative approach to find solutions,” he said.
During the opening ceremony that was held on 30th May 2019, at Nyaika Hotel in Fort Portal, the Resident District Commissioner of Kasese District Lt. Joe Walusimbi commended OHCEA and Makerere University for choosing Kasese as one of the pioneer districts in implementing the One Health Approach.
“With my team, we are ready to learn how we can bring sectors of wild and domestic life, environment, eco-system, and human life on board to forge a collaborative solution for the looming health hazards and disasters in our district. If we can have a tool that can bring together these various respective sectors to solve the health problems, we shall have achieved much,” he said.
On behalf of participants, Lt. Walusimbi thanked Makerere University for initiating the capacity building in the in-service government workers that is going to positively impact Kasese Community.
The departments that participated in the training were; Office of the; the Resident District Commissioner, Chief Administrative Officer; District Planning, Town Clerk, Mayor and the District Chairperson. Departments included; Health, Veterinary, Agriculture, Education, Natural Resources and Water.
The Leadership Capacity Building in Disease Prevention, Detection and Response for Local Government Administrators in Kasese District and Wildlife Personnel from Queen Elizabeth National Park will be concluded on Friday 3rd May 2019. At the end of the training, participants are expected to have mapped out the priority risks in their communities and developed a tool that will guide them while implementing the One Health Approach.
OHCEA is a network of 16 universities in 8 countries in Eastern and Central Africa. Makerere University School of Public Health, COVAB and Faculty of Medicine, Mbarara University of Science and Technology are focal points for the network in Uganda. Prof. William Bazeyo (Deputy Vice Chancellor F/A is the Principal Investigator.
Article by Nabatte Proscovia, Mak Public Relations Office.
The Senior Program Director, Higher Education and Research in Africa, International Program, Carnegie Corporation of New York, Prof. Omotade Akin Aina on 23rd May 2025 visited Makerere University during his short trip to Kampala. Prof. Aina was received on behalf of the Vice Chancellor, Prof. Barnabas Nawangwe by Prof. Tony Oyana, Principal of the College of Computing and Information Sciences (CoCIS).
During his visit, Prof. Aina met with the Project Implementation Committee, representatives from the Consolidating Early Career Academics Programme (CECAP) phase I Fellowship Cohort, and current Fellows of phase II. The meeting discussed the progress of CECAP II, which focuses on fostering academic development and research among early-career academics.
CECAP II is being implemented by Makerere University in collaboration with four other Ugandan public universities, including; Busitema University, Gulu University, Kyambogo University and Mbarara University of Science and Technology. Prof. Mukadasi Buyinza, the Project Principal Investigator was represented at the meeting by the Director of Graduate Training, Prof. Julius Kikooma.
By Moses Lutaaya
The Directorate of Graduate Training at Makerere University has equipped several Senior ranking lecturers with expert knowledge in a Training of Trainers’ workshop on “Philosophy of Methods”.
In his remarks at the opening of a 3-day training workshop at Level4 Conference Hall – Senate Building, the Director of Graduate Training Prof. Julius Kikooma said, “The teaching of Philosophy of Methods gives all participants the fundamentals to extend knowledge to other learners, hence its importance in upholding the Makerere University values.”
Kikooma urged and challenged the participants to also attend and actively participate in the follow up of learners’ training of students, stating that the PhD students need support as the directorate continues to coordinate the curriculum of PhD by-research that was approved by the senate recently.
“To holistically implement the senate approved PhD curriculum, we are coordinating capacity building trainings of all stake holders in a structured approach with the different units of the University. Many more trainings including Training of Trainers in advanced research methods course are on the way.”
He further urged the participants to be intentional in their teaching profession and in whatever they were doing, adding “Apart from focusing on practices as teachers and researchers, we can engage in wider philosophical debates in our research areas so that we are relevant in the society and in the empowerment of PhD research students.”
The participants for the Philosophy of Methods training were from College of Humanities and Social Sciences, College of Education and External Studies, Makerere University Business School among others.
During the same training, Dr. Dickson Kanakulya stressed the need to train senior lecturers in the Philosophy of Methods, saying, “The biggest connection is that societal problems require concrete research to find solutions. Our challenge in Africa is that we employ a short barrow approach to find solutions to problems. This cannot work. We need consistent researchers to solve problems. Lasting solutions to societal issues can only be got through training such as Philosophy of Methods, where researchers come up with new models for societal solutions.”
Dr. Kanakulya said that Makerere University remains the biggest research University in Africa and philosophy of Methods helps to come up with good research tools that produce good research outputs. “Research has shown that the higher the number of PhD researchers in any given country, the higher the levels of development of that country e.g. the USA, China etc., adding that research is not limited to only medicinal or agricultural related issues.”
He said philosophy of methods, encourages philosophical creativity in research, “It is meant to bring out philosophical generation of concepts, theories and ideas. It is meant to encourage students to question the existing philosophical assumptions and status quo in a given field of knowledge such that new philosophical concepts are created.”
For successful rollout of government programs like the National Development Plan 4, Dr. Kanakulya said that Philosophy of Methods training needs to be integrated into such systems. “Philosophy of Methods focuses on ethical thinking aspects. For example, for a better rollout of the Parish Development Model, we need implementers to be ethical.” He added.
Prof. Sulait Tumwiine, the associate Dean of Faculty of Graduate Studies and Research at MUBS said, “This is a discussion where new ideas are shared to guide and gauge applicability in the current knowledge diversity coupled with lots of technological development including Artificial Intelligence and Chat GPT.”
He added, “As professors of Universities, we need to understand how we leverage on what comes up so that it does not take our space, but also appreciate how we can support growth of knowledge. The Philosophy of Methods training is the answer.”
Dr. Jim Spire Ssentongo highlighted that Philosophy uses more of the critical mind than Science. He added that philosophy is more of speculation of the mind.
“Sustainability of philosophy Education encourages us to continue training. Philosophy being the oldest discipline retained special status in the academia as a pinnacle of pursuit of knowledge. All disciplines have major elements of philosophy citing examples in the philosophy of Mathematics and Physics.
Dr. Spire added, “If you do not understand philosophy, you cannot deeply investigate anything because philosophy is the reality of understanding everything. Philosophy is the basis of understanding what knowledge is and how it is arrived at.”
Also participating in the workshop was Prof. Joseph Ntaayi from MUBS, in his remarks he said PhD students need the philosophy of methods training to understand how to best to create knowledge. He added that ontological and epistemological questions that lead to good research design methods can only be answered by this training.
Dr. Robert Kakuru, a Lecturer in the College of Humanities and Social Sciences said that the Philosophy of Methods training is needed by every graduate student as well as supervisors to critically determine the choice of methods to use in academic research. For example, “If one wants to use a questionnaire as an interview approach, one should understand, why that approach and yet without this training, the why cannot be answered.” He added.
The Philosophy of Methods training was organized by Directorate of Graduate Training with funding support from the Consortium for Advanced Research Training in Africa (CARTA).
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