Health
Mak Donates 90 Lifebuoys to Uganda Police Marine Unit
The Makerere University School of Public Health (MakSPH) has donated 90 lifebuoys to the Uganda Police Force (UPF) Marine Unit, to aid the specialised unit in rescuing the drowning victims.
Assistant Inspector General of Police Edward Ochom, the UPF Director in charge of Operations hailed MakSPH for the strong partnership it has forged over time with UPF Marine Unit that bore fruits.
According to Ochom, UPF has for long been financially constrained making it difficult for the officers operate without adequate equipment. He hailed the partnership that has seen research output and now, a big boost of equipment.
He hailed the School for supporting the Marine Unit with 90 lifebuoys citing that they “will go a long way to support life when one drowns.” He was officiating at the handover ceremony of the items on Thursday October 8, 2020 at the Marine Base in Kigo, Wakiso District where he represented Inspector General of Police.
“I am privileged to be informed that this concern has not started now but the School used to offer life jackets to landing sites. Hence the love to preserve human life is well grounded in the School’s ideological mandate,” he said.
AIGP Ongom added that; “…we are really privileged that that we are being given 90 life rings. Our cardinal mandate in the Constitution is to protect life and property. And therefore, we are really concerned especially when people lose their lives on road, in water etc. We are really concerned and it is our duty to ensure that people don’t lose their lives like that.”
A recent study by the School showed that safe boating regulations are flouted, yet police was ill-equipped to ensure safety on the lake even as most drownings are preventable through policies and regulations that reduce risk exposure.
Mr. Abdullah Ali Halage, a lecturer at MakSPH said the intervention arose out of research conducted across the country around drowning, that stressed the limited resources and equipment by the law enforcers. He represented the Dean MakSPH-Prof. Rhoda Wanyenze at the donation of lifebuoys that were supported by the Bloomberg Philanthropies.
Globally, over 90% of the estimated 322,000 people who die in accidents related to drowning are in Low and Middle-Income Countries, making it the third leading cause of unintentional injury death; accounting for 7% of all injuries.
“We have conducted research and actually shared with you some of the reports that show that actually 95% of people using boats do not wear life jackets. Our reports also show that out of those who need to be rescued, very few get that support,” Mr. Halage said.
The results also show that many people drown without benefiting from any rescue attempts, because those who witness the drowning lack either rescue skills or rescue equipment.
According to Frederick Oporia, a Project Coordinator and Injury Epidemiologist at the Injury Epidemiology (Trauma, Injuries and Disability (TRIAD) unit of the School, majority people who drown lack survival swimming skills.” The TRIAD project is housed under the Department of Disease Control and Environmental Health.
The results also show drowning as a major cause of premature death in Uganda especially among young adults whose livelihoods depend on water activities. But Halage says most incidents of drowning are preventable through policies and regulations that reduce exposure to drowning risk and institutional interventions to ensure safety around water.
According to AIGP Ochom, the equipment used in such rescue missions is very expensive and that they can hardly be availed during the budgets. He observes that as police, they are mandated to protect lives irrespective of whether they have the means or not.
“We are really happy when we get institutions that also get their budgets from government and donate part of their meagre budgets that they get to another institution because I think they have seen during the research that we really need to be assisted. They are not doing it for themselves, they are doing it for the good of the nation. The Inspector General of Police is therefore highly indebted to Makerere University School of Public Health for the support they continue to give this specialised unit,” he noted.
The Marine Specialised Unit of Uganda Police Force is responsible for ensuring enforcement of law and order on water, Monitoring and Handling search and rescue.
The unit has 26 establishments/ detachments spread across the four major lakes in Uganda. A total of 17 marine establishments are on Lake Victoria, four (4) on Lake Kyoga, four (4) on Lake Albert, one (1) establishment on Lake George.
Engineer James Apora, the Uganda Police Marine Unit commandant also hailed the School for the big boost and the partnership citing that the equipment will ease their work.
“Our establishments are very few and very far apart. When you talk about emergency response, your response time becomes an issue when you are very far apart. The equipment you are using becomes an issue to take you there fast. The manpower also becomes an issue because you need very many numbers to expand,” says Eng. Apora.
“But the beauty is we have the will from police management to expand the unit. We have submitted our policing strategic plan for the next five years to establish additional 24 detaches that would make us to have at least 50 detaches spread all over the lakes. And we are also now venturing into the in-land lakes. Of recent lake Bunyonyi has become an issue and that is one of the areas we intend to open our detaches,” he hastened to add.
According to Eng. Apora, lifebuoys save about 4 persons at ago. “You can hang about four persons on it who can then be pulled to a safer area. I feel this is the greatest thing a stakeholder can do. The rest we can always talk but when you do it in practice, I think it speaks more.”
Dr. Olive Kobusingye, a Research Fellow and the Principal Investigator says despite the lack of incapacity to ensure safety on the lake, Police Officers have done tremendously well in ensuring they save lives and restore hope to Ugandans.
“We took about a year talking to a lot of people like yourselves [marine officers], we went to all Marine Police detaches and many other places and talked to people that have retrieved bodies, that have saved people from drowning, that have worked with families of those that have drowned and they all tell these stories but their stories go unacknowledged and a lot of work goes unacknowledged and I really would like to say thank you so very much indeed,” Dr. Kobusingye said at the handover ceremony.
About the Study
The report, issued on Thursday, presents findings of a two-phased study that was conducted in 60 districts of Uganda for a period of 2.5 years from a period of January 2016 to June 2018.
In the first phase of the study, records concerning 1,435 drowning cases were found in the 60 districts. Other than stating that the individual had drowned, there was very little information that could potentially guide prevention efforts.
The second phase was limited to only 14 of the 60 districts. In these 14 districts, a total of 2,066 drowning cases were identified by community health workers and confirmed through individual interviews with witnesses, family members, friends and survivors of drowning.
The report on understanding and preventing drowning in Uganda released on Thursday revealed high rates of drowning in both lakeside and non-lakeside districts.
Statistics analysed from the National Population and Housing Census Main Report of 2014, show that a total of 872 drowning deaths and 533 drowning survivors were recorded from the lakeside districts of Mayuge, Rakai, Serere, Hoima, Nakasongola, Masaka, Soroti and Rubirizi.
UBOS data also shows that a total of 402 drowning deaths and 146 drowning survivors were recorded in the reporting period for non-lakeside districts of Mbarara, Arua, Kitgum, Kabale and Mubende. In Kampala alone, the reporting period had a total of 58 drowning deaths recorded and 55 drowning survivors.
During the two-and-a-half-year study period, 1,435 drowning cases were recorded in the district police offices, marine police detachments, fire/rescue brigade detachments, and the largest mortuary in the 60 study districts.
“This is not the number of drowning cases that occurred during that time, but rather the number of drowning cases that were recorded. We learned from this study that many more cases of drowning happen that are never reported or recorded in administrative sources,” says Dr. Kobusingye.
According to the report, majority of the recorded cases were deaths (about 90%).
AIGP Ongom said the research will inform the Uganda Police Force’s top management on the causes of death on water, mitigating factors and strategies that can be put in place to minimise them.
He urged the marine unit to vigorously engage in strategies that can prevent people from drowning.
“For some of those cases that I have known, and also having a background of marine of course, we used to retrieve bodies and conduct investigations. There situations where you would really find it difficult even for the people to save themselves. I would sincerely request that we don’t end at research. We need to do a lot of preventive policing on our water bodies,” AIGP Ongom said.
Article by Makerere University School of Public Health
On August 20, 2025, Makerere University School of Public Health (MakSPH) convened a timely workshop on Strengthening Equitable Partnerships in International Research Collaboration in Uganda. Held at the MakSPH Auditorium, the event brought together researchers, policymakers, and institutional leaders to reflect on how Uganda, and indeed the wider region, can engage more effectively and derive greater benefit from global research collaborations.
Delivering the keynote address, Prof. David Musoke Serwadda, a Professor Emeritus at Makerere University and a globally recognised HIV researcher and epidemiologist, urged a rethinking of how international research partnerships are structured. A former head of the Institute of Public Health (IPH) and later Dean of the School, serving between 2003 and 2009, Serwadda is also the founding director of the Rakai Health Sciences Programme (RHSP), which is one of Uganda’s most influential research initiatives on HIV. While acknowledging the many benefits Uganda has gained from global research collaborations, he cautioned that too many times, these partnerships remain transactional, shaped by donor priorities, bound to project cycles, and offering limited long-term value to local institutions once projects close.
Prof. Serwadda, himself a globally recognised and well-accomplished researcher, with over four decades of experience and numerous awards for his contributions to science and global health, observed that Ugandan partners are many times included in research projects for visibility rather than substance, often excluded from core roles such as Principal Investigators or from influencing agenda-setting, budget control, and authorship. “Partnerships are not an end in themselves; they exist to help us achieve mutually agreed objectives built on shared responsibility and reciprocal obligations. Too often, Southern institutions are brought into projects late, simply for optics. That is not equitable collaboration,” he insisted.
During his talk, he stressed that this imbalance undermines both research quality and sustainability, noting that normally, when local researchers are sidelined, studies often fail to align with national priorities or build capacity that endures. By contrast, partnerships that are grounded in mutual respect, fair resource sharing, co-design, and shared decision-making have the impact of producing knowledge that is globally relevant and locally impactful.
“Equity in partnerships is about fairness, ensuring that all partners, regardless of context, can contribute meaningfully. This also requires responsibility on our part in the Global South. We must insist on involvement from project conception, negotiate fair terms, and strengthen our own systems to manage collaborations effectively,” Prof. Serwadda advised, emphasising that strong institutions, clear strategy, agenda and objectives are key for local institutions to engage in mutually fair and beneficial research collaborations at the global and continental stage.
As Director and later Dean of MakSPH, Prof. David Serwadda spearheaded numerous research collaborations and attracted substantial grants that elevated the School and the University’s global standing. Today, MakSPH is recognised as Makerere University’s flagship unit for its wide-ranging partnerships and robust research management systems. Since its beginnings as a small Department of Preventive Medicine in 1954, through its transformation into the first Institute of Public Health in sub-Saharan Africa in 1975, its elevation to School status in 2007, and most recently its reinstatement as a standalone School with college status within Makerere University in January 2025, a status first granted in 2001, MakSPH has built a 70-year legacy of advancing public health through research, training, and policy engagement.
The School’s evolution, as often couched by its leadership, has been anchored on strategic and strong partnerships. These collaborations, be they local, regional or global, have driven health systems innovation, strengthened capacity, and informed policy, making partnerships the cornerstone of the School’s past achievements and future ambitions. At the celebration of the School’s 70th Anniversary, marked in December 2024, Makerere University Vice Chancellor Prof. Barnabas Nawangwe hailed MakSPH’s research output, community impact, and strong partnerships cultivated throughout the years. The Mak VC cited the School’s pioneering role in the HIV response led by Prof. Serwadda in the 1980s, the establishment of nutrition centres such as the Mwana Mugimu Unit at Mulago Hospital and across Uganda by the late Prof. John Kakitahi in the 1990s with support from Rotary International, and community projects like Kasangati Health Centre along Gayaza Road with support from the Rockefeller Foundation in the late 1950s, which advanced public education on healthy environments and wellness.
“The School of Public Health brings in almost half of all research grants at Makerere University, both in number and value, and these partnerships have been central to tackling Uganda’s public health challenges. From pioneering HIV/AIDS work that shaped global prevention strategies to interventions in maternal health, malaria, and infectious diseases, MakSPH has consistently combined academic excellence with community service. Its leadership during the COVID-19 pandemic further showed its ability to respond to national health emergencies with evidence-based solutions that directly benefit the people,” Prof. Nawangwe said with gratitude for the work done by the School through collaboration.
In 2024, the School had over 350 peer-reviewed publications in high-impact international journals as a result of this wide network and partnerships. MakSPH currently maintains a strong mix of North–South and South–South collaborations. Within the continent, the School is actively working in more than 25 countries, often partnering with multiple institutions within individual countries to advance research, capacity building, and policy influence. One such recent collaboration is the Partnership to Enhance Technical Support for Analytical Capacity and Data Use in Eastern & Southern Africa (PERSuADE) Project, funded by the Global Fund. Under PERSuADE, MakSPH, the prime grant recipient, hosted the secretariat led by Dean Prof. Rhoda Wanyenze as Principal Investigator, tasked with overall coordination across 12 countries, while a Steering Committee chaired by Prof. David Serwadda provided oversight.
PERSuADE was implemented in two phases between 2018 and 2023. The project brought together 12 universities and 12 Ministries of Health in East and Southern Africa to strengthen analytical capacity and promote data use in national health programmes, cascading skills to districts and lower facilities. In its second phase, the project trained over 1,500 health staff, including 934 at the sub-national level, in data analysis and use, and generated more than 80 analytical outputs on HIV, TB, and malaria. These informed National Strategic Plans in seven countries and improved programme strategies in all 12. Sixteen in-service staff from seven countries received specialised training in HIV key population surveillance, health information systems, and data use. The project also piloted the Maturity Index Model in five countries, helping ministries track progress in institutionalising data-driven decision-making.
In Uganda, the PERSuADE project was implemented in Kiboga, Buikwe, Kasanda, Mukono, and Mityana districts, selected by the Ministry of Health. According to the Principal Investigator, Prof. Rhoda Wanyenze, strengthening data analysis and use has greatly enhanced the capacity of Ministries of Health to deliver targeted interventions that directly benefit communities. She noted that improved analytical skills at national and subnational levels now enable ministries to identify disparities in HIV, TB, and malaria burdens, while district and facility health workers can use data to strengthen local service delivery. “With better data, districts can plan more efficiently, allocate medicines, and implement tailored prevention campaigns to address specific risks, raise awareness, and reduce new infections,” she said, emphasising the role of equitable collaboration as a key success factor in Uganda and across the continent for this partnership.
Indeed, during a learning visit to Uganda in September 2024, Dr. Estifanos Biru Shargie, Senior Specialist for Monitoring, Evaluation, and Country Analysis at the Global Fund, commended the PERSuADE Project for strengthening local capacity and fostering sustainable health system improvements through South-South partnerships among schools and ministries. “The impact has been significant. In Kiboga, I was impressed by how teams mapped gaps in services and addressed them over four years, using data to inform decisions and monitor progress. Working with Makerere University School of Public Health has been an honour. The School blends academic excellence with practical implementation, backed by strong financial management and a long-standing relationship with the Ministry of Health. Their coordination, networking, and efficiency have been exemplary,” Dr. Shargie said.
Another currently ongoing initiative at the School is the African Leadership and Management Training for Impact in Malaria Eradication (ALAMIME) program, led by MakSPH with ten participating institutions across nine malaria-endemic countries, funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. Co-led by Prof. Elizeus Rutebemberwa and Prof. Dosithée Ngo Bebe, ALAMIME is cultivating the leadership Africa needs to defeat malaria by strengthening institutions, building capacity, and fostering regional networks. In 2024 alone, the program trained over 250 participants, nearly half women, from national malaria programs, ministries, and NGOs. Through structured training, alumni-led webinars, and cross-country exchanges, the program has demonstrated how equitable, multi-country partnerships translate investment into sustainable systems and shared momentum toward malaria elimination.
For nearly 15 years now, MakSPH has also hosted the NTU–Mak Partnership, a collaboration between Makerere University and Nottingham Trent University, first conceived in 2010, with Assoc. Prof. David Musoke and Prof. Linda Gibson as the Uganda and UK Co-Leads. One of the key reasons for the success of this partnership is equity, and it has since attracted over £1.4 million in grants, trained more than 900 Village Health Teams in Wakiso District, supported over 350 practitioners in antimicrobial stewardship, and facilitated exchanges for more than 200 students and faculty. It has also equipped community health workers to respond to non-communicable diseases, antimicrobial resistance, and the COVID-19 pandemic, while generating over 30 peer-reviewed publications and convening global platforms such as the first International Community Health Worker Symposium, held in Kampala in 2017.
Dr. Musoke, the Co-Principal Investigator for the project on strengthening equitable research collaborations in Uganda, described the NTU-Mak partnership as a model North–South partnership that has produced both joint scholarship and lasting institutional ties. He noted that its success has inspired wider collaborations, as the current project on equitable partnerships builds on this foundation. Emerging from a British Academy regional workshop in Nairobi in 2024, MakSPH extended its engagement to Mountains of the Moon University (MMU), Uganda Martyrs University (UMU), and the National Agricultural Research Organisation (NARO). Together with Nottingham Trent University, these institutions are now advancing reforms to embed equity in research partnerships across Uganda’s research ecosystem.
Health
Mak and UNICEF Uganda Sign MoU to Strengthen Child Rights through Research, Training, and Innovation
Makerere University (Mak) and United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) Uganda have signed a Memorandum of Understanding that launches a two-year, renewable partnership aimed at advancing child rights and well-being through rigorous research, capacity building, and policy-driven innovation.
The agreement was signed on Thursday, 14 August 2025, by Makerere Vice Chancellor Professor Barnabas Nawangwe and UNICEF Uganda Representative Dr. Robin Nandy in the Vice Chancellor’s Boardroom at Makerere’s Main Building.
The MoU enlists a focused collaboration on generating child-focused data and research to inform policy and program design, analyzing how health, nutrition, education, and protection initiatives affect children, and strengthening the social sector workforce through targeted training, curricula, and performance standards.
It also emphasizes knowledge management, wide dissemination of findings to stakeholders, policy and legislative advocacy for child rights, and active student engagement through internships, skilling opportunities, and communities of practice. The renewed partnership is designed to bolster evidence-based policy-making and drive program improvements that contribute to Uganda’s progress toward the Sustainable Development Goals by 2030.
“The signing of this MoU deepens Makerere’s long-standing commitment to the well-being of Uganda’s children and Africa’s future,” said Vice Chancellor Nawangwe. “I thank Dr. Nandy for his leadership and for the continued collaboration that will expand our capacity to deliver research with immediate, practical benefits for communities.”
UNICEF’s Dr. Nandy stressed that the partnership reflects UNICEF’s global mission to protect and promote every child’s rights while translating research into policy and action. He highlighted Makerere’s proven strength in research leadership as a critical asset in the effort to generate robust evidence for government decision-making and resource allocation.
“This partnership shows our commitment to combine academic knowledge with practical results,” said Dr. Nandy. “Using Makerere’s research skills to create important information about child welfare issues and solutions, making sure that every project we start is based on solid data and aims to safeguard and support children’s basic rights.”
The partnership builds on Makerere University’s established research strengths and UNICEF’s global mandate to protect children. It complements longstanding collaborative work through Mak’s School of Public Health (MakSPH) and other faculties, reinforcing a broader university-wide commitment to evidence-based policy and community impact.
Since 2016, Makerere has participated in more than 30 UNICEF-supported research projects, which emphasize a deep mutual trust and shared mission. The Vice Chancellor noted that this history laid a robust foundation for the new MoU while also underlining opportunities to broaden collaboration beyond the health sector.
Among the notable prior initiatives is MakSPH’s joint work with UBOS and UNICEF, supported by EU funding, on the first comprehensive Food Security and Nutrition Assessment in ten districts of Northern Uganda and the West Nile region (2019). The findings of this work informed targeted nutrition programs and strategies to combat malnutrition among vulnerable populations, shaping policy directions at local and national levels.
In 2023, MakSPH, in collaboration with the National Planning Authority (NPA) and UNICEF, along with FHI360 and the Ministry of Health, produced an updated Situation Analysis of Newborn Health in Uganda. The document has guided the ministry’s national strategy development, including costed investments to improve newborn health across the country.
Professor Rhoda Wanyenze, Dean of MakSPH, hailed the partnership as a continuation of a long-standing relationship, noting that UNICEF’s support was instrumental in establishing the Makerere University Centre of Excellence for Maternal Newborn & Child Health (MNCH) in 2013.
“It’s such a delight, a great honor to finally get to this event where we can formalize our partnership with UNICEF. The partnership between UNICEF and Makerere has been a long-standing one, and we have worked together for decades, which has driven critical research and informed national policies,” she said. She emphasized that both institutions share a passion for tackling adolescent health challenges, particularly early pregnancies and marriages, which remain persistent barriers to progress.
The MoU extends collaboration beyond the School of Public Health. The Vice Chancellor noted productive partnerships across other departments, including the Department of Journalism and Communication and the College of Humanities and Social Sciences, emphasizing how diverse disciplines can contribute to evidence-based policy and community well-being.
Another important example is the Caring for the Caregiver (CFC) intervention led by the Makerere Institute of Teacher Education and Research (MITER) in the College of Education and External Studies (CEES). This was implemented in partnership with the Ministry of Health, UNICEF Uganda, and international partners. The evaluation examined caregiver emotional wellbeing, social support, and parenting stress in rural Uganda, contributing to the growing evidence base for nurturing care in resource-constrained settings.
Also, the School of Statistics and Planning in the College of Business and Management Sciences (CoBAMS) has partnered with UNICEF to tackle urgent socio-economic and public health challenges. A key example is the Socio-economic Impact Assessment of the 2022 Ebola Virus Disease outbreak in Mubende and Kassanda districts, which examined household-level shocks, community coping strategies, and the wider disruption of livelihoods. The study’s findings have informed national policy dialogue and action planning, emphasizing that there must be stronger preparedness measures.
According to the Vice Chancellor, the university’s broader engagement with UNICEF as a driver of research, innovation, and community outreach benefits children and families throughout Uganda.
For Dr. Nandy the partnership will support student involvement in real-world operational and programmatic work, creating pipelines for young scholars to contribute to child welfare initiatives.
Both parties expressed a shared vision of translating research findings into concrete actions that strengthen child protection and opportunities for learning and development. The collaboration is expected to yield new efforts for effective interventions, sharpen the policy dialogue, and catalyze scalable innovations that improve the daily lives of Uganda’s children.
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