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Police Boss Asks Mak to Conduct Research on Impact of Air Pollution on Traffic Officers

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Commissioner of Police Niwabiine Lawrence, the acting Director Traffic and Road Safety in the Uganda Police Force has asked Makerere University to help conduct an investigation on the impact of air pollution on traffic officers in Uganda.

Niwabiine says on average, a traffic police officer spends a minimum of 6-8 hours on a particular spot directing traffic which is highly likely to affect the officers’ health.

“We need to have a comprehensive study on the impact of air pollution on our traffic police officers. We request you Makerere University to help us. Our traffic officers spend 6-8 hours on one spot directing traffic. But we get worried about the exhaust fumes they are exposed to. We don’t know what this could mean to their lives,” said CP Niwabiine.

He said this while presenting on The Role of the Media in Road Safety at a two and a half journalists’ training workshop on road safety in Uganda organized by the Makerere University School of Public Health at Hotel Africana in Kampala.

A total of 30 journalists and editors participated. This workshop aimed to increase the impact of the media in the prevention of road traffic crashes and injuries.

 CP Niwabiine urged journalists to acknowledge the challenges that traffic police officers go through at their work noting that the police is overstretched. He also highlighted that police officers are psychologically affected by many things including the poor living conditions as well as abuses they undergo while on the road.

Dr. Esther Buregyeya, an Associate Professor and Head of the Department of Disease Control and Environmental Health at Makerere University School of Public Health
Dr. Esther Buregyeya, an Associate Professor and Head of the Department of Disease Control and Environmental Health at Makerere University School of Public Health speaking to journalists at Hotel Africa during the media training on road safety.

welcomed the request citing that air pollution is now the leading cause of many diseases globally especially infectious and non-infectious diseases.

According to Dr. Buregyeya, exposure to air pollution is an occupational hazard for traffic police officers. She however adds that the whole population is at risk, especially in urban areas due to emissions from cars hence the need for a multi-sectoral approach. She notes that since the air pollution is complex issue that no one sector can address it alone. She calls for policies and frameworks to support working across sectors to address some of these issues.

“If you talk about the cancers, they are related to pollution, if you talk about TB, its infectious but also related to pollution, if you talk about asthma, hypertension etc. Research that is coming out shows that air pollution is a risk factor for cardiovascular diseases. So these are important areas to address in order to reduce the burden of disease in this country. It is not about only police officers that are affected by pollution,” Dr. Buregyeya said.

Dr. Buregyeya further notes that; “I believe doing research about this air pollution issue will provide the evidence needed that can inform policy and practice. Without evidence, it is difficult to cause change in the right direction and without policy our hands are tied.”

Dr. Olive C. Kobusingye, Senior Research Fellow PI, Trauma, Injury, & Disability Makerere University School of Public Health Distinguished Fellow, the George Institute for Global Health, Australia and Board Chair, the Road Traffic Injuries Research Network
Dr. Olive C. Kobusingye, Senior Research Fellow PI, Trauma, Injury, & Disability Makerere University School of Public Health Distinguished Fellow, the George Institute for Global Health, Australia and Board Chair, the Road Traffic Injuries Research Network speaking at the training.

Dr. Olive Kobusingye, who is also the board chairperson of the Road Traffic Injury Research Network, an international agency working to improve road safety through research globally, said Commissioner of Police Niwabiine’s request is an area that the School of Public Health continues to pursue to make sure that we don’t just look at roads as being a risk for injuries but also being a risk for other health conditions.

“CP Niwabiine brought in another component. His point was that law enforcers –traffic police officers who stand on the road for long hours and they consume fumes from cars and dust, sometimes 8hours at a time – there is a fear that this extreme exposure to pollutants is likely to affect their health,” Dr. Kobusingye a Senior Research Fellow Principal Investigator, Trauma, Injury, & Disability unit (TRIAD) at MakSPH said.

CP Niwabiine Lawrence, the acting Director Traffic and Road Safety in the Uganda Police Force engages Dr. Olive Kobusingye and media trainer Joachim Buwembo, from Uganda Radio Network.
CP Niwabiine Lawrence, the acting Director Traffic and Road Safety in the Uganda Police Force engages Dr. Olive Kobusingye and media trainer Joachim Buwembo, from Uganda Radio Network.

Research from Makerere University has already showed that there are very high levels of pollution along the roads.

Dr. Lynn Atuyambe, an air quality specialist and associate Professor at Makerere University School of Public Health says long-term exposure to high levels of fine particulate matter (PM2.5) is harmful to human health.

This PM2.5 comes from vehicle emissions, industrial emissions, household energy use, and windblown dust.

A study by the Eastern Africa GEOHealth Hub at Makerere University School of Public Health sought to establish the effects of COVID-19 lockdown on Air Quality in Kampala city by measuring ambient PM2.5 concentration using the Met One Instrument Inc.

The study team analysed data for three years (2018, 2019, and 2020) but paid special attention to the first six months (January-June) of 2020 which coincided with the COVID-19 pandemic period.

Dr. Lynn Atuyambe, an air quality specialist and associate Professor at Makerere School of Public Health together with MakSPH's research associate Samuel Etajak
R-L: Dr. Lynn Atuyambe, an air quality specialist and associate Professor at Makerere School of Public Health together with MakSPH’s research associate Samuel Etajak

“Our data revealed that air pollution has two main peaks in 24 hours of a typical day. The two peaks are at 09.00hrs and 23.00 hrs. This pattern is consistent in all the months under observation for the last three years (2020, 2019, and 2018) including the lockdown period.

A 2020 Health Effects Institute report shows air pollution was the 4th leading risk factor for early death worldwide in 2019, surpassed only by high blood pressure, tobacco use, and poor diet.

TRIAD team at MakSPH in a group photo withDr. Esther Buregyeya, an Associate Professor and Head of the Department of Disease Control and Environmental Health at Makerere University School of Public Health and a team of media trainers
TRIAD team at MakSPH in a group photo withDr. Esther Buregyeya, an Associate Professor and Head of the Department of Disease Control and Environmental Health at Makerere University School of Public Health and a team of media trainers
Some of the journalists who participated in the media training on road safety
Some of the journalists who participated in the media training on road safety in a group photo with media trainers and TRIAD team of MakSPH at Hotel Africa in Kampala.

Contact Davidson Ndyabahika, communications officer at Makerere University School of Public Health for more information on dndyabahika[at]musph.ac.ug

Article originally published by MakSPH

Mark Wamai

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TWAS recognises Dr. Angelina Mwesige Kakooza for her research

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Dr. Angelina Mwesige Kakooza, Associate Professor of Paediatrics in the Department of Paediatrics and Child Health receives her award.

Dr. Angelina Mwesige Kakooza, Associate Professor of Paediatrics in the Department of Paediatrics and Child Health, School of Medicine, Makerere University College of Health Sciences (MakCHS) received the 2025 TWAS-Fayzah M. Al-Kharafi Award in Medical Sciences. She was recognised for her research on neurodevelopmental disorders – particularly epilepsy, cerebral palsy, and nodding syndrome – and for advancing policy and research, mentorship, as well as local community interventions to enhance children’s health.

The award was given at the recent 17th General Conference of The World Academy of Sciences (TWAS) held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil under the theme ‘Building a Sustainable Future: The Role of Science, Technology, and Innovation for Global Development.’ Organized in partnership with the Brazilian Academy of Sciences (BAS) and TWAS, the conference brought together leading scientists, policymakers, and institutional leaders from across the global South and beyond.

In her remarks after receiving the award, Dr. Kakooza said, “This award highlights the importance of neurodevelopmental disorders which are a great health problem worldwide, often diagnosed late and treated poorly,” said Kakooza. “It affirms my contribution to science in Africa, strengthens advocacy for gender equity in science and education and makes me a role model for others, increasing my influence in the scientific community.”

Associate Professor Angelina Mwesige Kakooza.
Associate Professor Angelina Mwesige Kakooza.

Dr. Angelina Kakooza Mwesige is a Ugandan scholar with over 25years teaching experience whose research focuses on neurodevelopmental disorders in children centred on their epidemiology, early screening, identification and community based interventions in Uganda. Her current areas of research cover studies on early detection and interventions for young infants at high risk of neurodevelopmental delay and disability in Nepal and Uganda; development of community engagement projects to empower adolescents living with epilepsy in Uganda reduce stigma in their communities; as well as development and testing of an interactive epilepsy smart phone application to improve resilience among them.

TWAS is a global merit-based science academy based in Trieste, Italy, and administered as a UNESCO Programme Unit. Read more here: https://twas.org/

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Zaam Ssali

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Refugee Health Journalism as Empowerment: Why Accuracy, Dignity & Context Matter

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Participants in the Media Training Workshop on Refugee Health and Migration Reporting that brought together twenty journalists from Kampala, Kyaka II, Adjumani, and other refugee-hosting districts at MakSPH on 3rd October 2025. Media Training Workshop on Refugee Health and Migration Reporting that brought together twenty journalists from Kampala, Kyaka II, Adjumani, and other refugee-hosting districts, Makerere University School of Public Health (MakSPH), Kampala Uganda, East Africa on 3rd October 2025.

In July this year, I joined a study tour to Imvepi Refugee Settlement in Uganda’s West Nile region under the RISK-WASH Project, led by Dr. Richard Mugambe. Established in 2017 in what is now Terego District, Imvepi is one of several settlements created to host people fleeing conflict in neighbouring South Sudan. Now home to more than 60,000 refugees, it reflects Uganda’s progressive refugee policy, anchored in the 2006 Refugee Act, which promotes the integration of displaced families within host communities, allocates land for livelihoods, and ensures access to national services. It remains a model both commendable and instructive for the region.

With nearly two million refugees and asylum seekers, most of whom are women and children, Uganda stands among the world’s leading examples of inclusive, community-based refugee protection. The RISK-WASH Project, implemented by the Makerere University School of Public Health (MakSPH) in collaboration with IHE-Delft, BRAC, and icddr,b, with support from the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs, organised the three-day visit. The project builds evidence for better Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene (WASH) decision-making in humanitarian settings, developing practical tools to assess how exposure to unsafe water, poor sanitation, and environmental hazards affects the health of both displaced and host populations.

The RISK-WASH Project team, together with officials from the Uganda Red Cross Society, meet the Imvepi Refugee Settlement Commandant during a field visit in July 2025. Media Training Workshop on Refugee Health and Migration Reporting that brought together twenty journalists from Kampala, Kyaka II, Adjumani, and other refugee-hosting districts, Makerere University School of Public Health (MakSPH), Kampala Uganda, East Africa on 3rd October 2025.
The RISK-WASH Project team, together with officials from the Uganda Red Cross Society, meet the Imvepi Refugee Settlement Commandant during a field visit in July 2025.

In Imvepi, that evidence takes human form. Water points run dry under intense demand or drought; latrines overflow during rains; fragile health systems strain to contain preventable diseases that flourish in such conditions. One nurse may attend to hundreds of patients in a single day, treating malaria, respiratory infections, and diarrhoeal diseases directly linked to inadequate WASH infrastructure. The images linger long after one leaves, especially when reflecting on the media’s role in shaping refugee narratives. What struck me most was how such realities are often reduced to statistics or fleeting headlines that reveal little about the lives behind them. I left Imvepi convinced that we, in the media, must not only report but listen differently.

When we cover refugees, we often begin with numbers. Yet behind every statistic is a heartbeat and a history the news cycle rarely pauses to hear. Refugee health, perhaps the most human measure of displacement, is still too often framed as a crisis rather than a continuum of resilience, policy, and rights. The World Health Organisation’s World Reports on the Health of Refugees and Migrants reminds us that refugees frequently experience poorer health outcomes than host populations, not because they are inherently vulnerable, but because access to care is often obstructed by law, language, and logistics. Health, like truth, then, becomes interestingly dependent on who is allowed to speak and who is heard.

Floods in Adjumani refugee settlement left shelters destroyed and water sources contaminated, heightening the risk of disease outbreaks and exposing the fragile health conditions faced by displaced families. Photo taken in 2024 during a MakSPH study on refugee health and climate change. Media Training Workshop on Refugee Health and Migration Reporting that brought together twenty journalists from Kampala, Kyaka II, Adjumani, and other refugee-hosting districts, Makerere University School of Public Health (MakSPH), Kampala Uganda, East Africa on 3rd October 2025.
Floods in Adjumani refugee settlement left shelters destroyed and water sources contaminated, heightening the risk of disease outbreaks and exposing the fragile health conditions faced by displaced families. Photo taken in 2024 during a MakSPH study on refugee health and climate change.

It was in this spirit that, on October 3, 2025, we convened the Media Training Workshop on Refugee Health and Migration Reporting at MakSPH. The one-day seminar brought together twenty journalists from Kampala, Kyaka II, Adjumani, and other refugee-hosting districts. Our goal was not to add another humanitarian angle to the news but to rethink how the media can report with depth, ethics, and empathy. Working with partners such as Africa Humanitarian Action, Emesco Development Foundation, and Farmamundi, we explored the subtle power the media wields to either dignify or diminish, to clarify or distort, the lived realities of refugees, particularly in the realm of health.

During my session, Refugee Health Reporting as Empowerment: Negotiating Accuracy, Dignity, and Context,” I invited participants to view journalism through the lens of Paulo Freire, the celebrated Brazilian transformative educator who wrote the Pedagogy of the Oppressed while in exile in 1970. Through his influential work, Freire argued that oppression persists when those in power control language and narrative, when others are spoken for rather than heard. Liberation begins, he said, when people “name their world.” That principle remains profoundly relevant to our craft as journalism and communications practitioners. Refugees must not remain objects of our storytelling; they are its subjects. Journalism, in its truest public function, becomes liberating only when it is dialogic, when we report with people, not merely about them.

I led a session titled “Refugee Health Reporting as Empowerment: Negotiating Accuracy, Dignity, and Context” on October 3, 2025, framing it around Paulo Freire’s pedagogical philosophy of liberation through dialogue and critical reflection. Media Training Workshop on Refugee Health and Migration Reporting that brought together twenty journalists from Kampala, Kyaka II, Adjumani, and other refugee-hosting districts, Makerere University School of Public Health (MakSPH), Kampala Uganda, East Africa on 3rd October 2025.
I led a session titled “Refugee Health Reporting as Empowerment: Negotiating Accuracy, Dignity, and Context” on October 3, 2025, framing it around Paulo Freire’s pedagogical philosophy of liberation through dialogue and critical reflection.

This transformation begins with accuracy. In Uganda, refugees share the same health system as host communities, one already strained by staff shortages, drug stock-outs, and donor fatigue. Yet many stories stop at official statements or NGO press releases. Limited access, shrinking newsroom budgets, and bureaucratic gatekeeping tempt journalists to rely on polished humanitarian narratives. But when we do, we risk becoming megaphones for the powerful. Accuracy demands courage, the willingness to verify, to cross-check, and to step beyond curated camp tours. In refugee reporting, truth is not just a professional standard; it is an act of respect.

Still, truth without dignity can harm. Too often, images of refugees serve as shorthand for despair—dust, hunger, tents. Such imagery may evoke sympathy, but it often strips away humanity. From practice, I have seen journalists lower their lenses before asking names. I have also seen how a small shift in approach, say seeking consent, giving space, and listening before photographing, can restore dignity to both subject and story. Words matter too. Calling someone an “illegal immigrant” or describing an “influx” of refugees turns people into problems. Language should humanise, not flatten. To describe refugees as mothers, health workers, or students is to reassert their agency and affirm our shared humanity, something Freire would have deeply valued today.

Media trainer Mr. Wilson Akiiki Kaija facilitates a session on “Centring Humanity” during the Refugee Health and Migration Reporting Workshop at MakSPH, underscoring the media’s role in advancing accuracy, dignity, and context in refugee reporting. October 3, 2025. Media Training Workshop on Refugee Health and Migration Reporting that brought together twenty journalists from Kampala, Kyaka II, Adjumani, and other refugee-hosting districts, Makerere University School of Public Health (MakSPH), Kampala Uganda, East Africa on 3rd October 2025.
Media trainer Mr. Wilson Akiiki Kaija facilitates a session on “Centring Humanity” during the Refugee Health and Migration Reporting Workshop at MakSPH, underscoring the media’s role in advancing accuracy, dignity, and context in refugee reporting. October 3, 2025.

And no story exists in isolation. Every health headline in a settlement echoes across systems of policy, climate, economics, and gender. A cholera outbreak in Kyangwali is not merely a medical event or isolated incident; it may be showing broken sanitation infrastructure and the politics of aid, which may result in a national disease outbreak. Context is the soul of credibility. Without it, even accurate stories can mislead. In Imvepi, I saw first-hand that refugees’ health challenges are inseparable from Uganda’s own development journey, from how budgets are made to how global partners value African hospitality. The more connections we draw, the closer we come to the truth.

By the close of the workshop, it was evident that empowerment in journalism is not a slogan but a discipline. It demands patience, humility, and persistence. It calls for the co-production of stories, revisiting them, verifying them, and allowing refugees to narrate their realities. It also calls on institutions to invest and fund field reporting, train correspondents in trauma-sensitive and peace journalism, and protect journalists pursuing uncomfortable truths. Without such support, even good intentions dissolve into soundbites.

I often return to Freire’s words of wisdom: To speak a true word is to transform the world. This means that words are not just passive descriptions but powerful tools for action and social change, especially when they are paired with critical reflection and a commitment to praxis (work and action). Refugee health journalism, at its best, is precisely that kind of speech: accurate, dignified, and deeply contextual. It is not merely charity reporting; it is solidarity reporting. For anyone, given the wrong circumstances, can become a refugee. And solidarity, unlike sympathy, does not look down; it stands beside. When we write from that conviction, our stories do more than inform. They humanise, connect, and remind us that telling the truth well is, in itself, an act of justice.

From right: Africa Humanitarian Action’s Mr. Yakobo Kaheesi and Emesco Development Foundation’s Mr. Patrick Ssentalo join facilitators and organisers Mr. Wilson Akiiki Kaija and Mr. Davidson Ndyabahika in awarding certificates to media participants after the successful training on Refugee Health and Migration Reporting on October 3, 2025. Media Training Workshop on Refugee Health and Migration Reporting that brought together twenty journalists from Kampala, Kyaka II, Adjumani, and other refugee-hosting districts, Makerere University School of Public Health (MakSPH), Kampala Uganda, East Africa on 3rd October 2025.
From right: Africa Humanitarian Action’s Mr. Yakobo Kaheesi and Emesco Development Foundation’s Mr. Patrick Ssentalo join facilitators and organisers Mr. Wilson Akiiki Kaija and Mr. Davidson Ndyabahika in awarding certificates to media participants after the successful training on Refugee Health and Migration Reporting on October 3, 2025.

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John Okeya

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Professor Nakimuli awarded at FIGO Congress for outstanding contribution to Women and Child Health

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Dr. Annettee Nakimuli, Associate Professor of Obstetrics and Gynaecology and Dean, School of Medicine, Makerere University College of Health Sciences. Kampala Uganda, East Africa.

Dr. Annettee Nakimuli, an Associate Professor of Obstetrics & Gynaecology and Dean – School of Medicine at Makerere University College of Health Sciences was awarded by the International Federation of Gynaecology and Obstetrics (FIGO) for her outstanding contribution to improving the health of Women and children as a researcher and practitioner.

She received the award on the 6th Oct 2025 at the FIGO General Assembly/FIGO Congress that is ongoing in Cape Town, South Africa.

Professor Nakimuli is a leading maternal health researcher focused primarily on investigating the aetiology, treatment, prevention and long term outcomes of pregnancy complications among women in Sub-Saharan Africa. She is committed to building maternal and new-born research capacity in Africa and her aim is, with East African and International colleagues, to establish a multidisciplinary centre for African maternal and neonatal health research located at Makerere University in Uganda.

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Zaam Ssali

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