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Etheldreda Nakimuli-Mpungu: Innovator in Mental Health

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By Udani Samarasekera

Etheldreda Nakimuli-Mpungu is a rising researcher and clinician doing innovative work in mental health and HIV in sub-Saharan Africa. She is a Senior Lecturer and psychiatric epidemiologist in the Department of Psychiatry at Makerere University College of Health Sciences (MakCHS) and head of the consultation–liaison psychiatric service at Mulago National Referral Hospital, Kampala, Uganda. Almost a decade ago, she recalls that “around that time, there were researchers who had resolved that Africans cannot comprehend psychotherapy; therefore, they gave persons living with HIV antidepressants as first-line treatment for mild-to-moderate depression in their research studies. In fact, there was an NIH funded grant in my department at the time that was evaluating the use of antidepressants for depression among people living with HIV. I said to myself, but this is not right because antidepressants are not the first-line treatment.” She “strongly believed that what we should be doing was to develop culturally appropriate psychotherapy for depression” in this population.

Nakimuli-Mpungu’s PhD had shown depression was fairly common among patients attending rural HIV clinics in Uganda and it affected their adherence to antiretroviral treatment. She successfully submitted a research proposal to Grand Challenges Canada and, together with her colleagues, teamed up with Edward Mills in Canada to develop and test in a pilot trial a culturally sensitive group support psychotherapy (GSP) for people with mild-to-moderate major depression and HIV. Nakimuli-Mpungu and colleagues went on to complete a cluster randomised trial to evaluate the model on a large scale, with trained lay health workers delivering the GSP. They showed that the effect of GSP on depression was sustained at 2 years, and treating depression resulted in improved adherence to antiretroviral medication. Nakimuli-Mpungu and colleagues are now seeking to replicate their work on GSP outside of Uganda. “That is the next step…If we have that evidence as well, then we’re at the stage of scaling up.” They are also adapting their model for young people aged 10–18 years and are creating an online platform to deliver psychotherapy because, she notes, the COVID-19 pandemic has created a need for digital health.

Mills, Professor at the Department of Health Research Methods, Evidence, and Impact, McMaster University, Hamilton, ON, Canada, comments: “Ethel is among the most important clinical researchers in Africa as she has the unique ability to ask important questions, get the clinical trials funded and conducted reliably, and personally analyses the data. Very few researchers anywhere can do all of this themselves.”

Her parents encouraged Nakimuli-Mpungu to pursue medicine. “Our parents really wanted us to get educated and become worthwhile citizens”, she says. “My earliest memory was that my mum used to say that girls become doctors”. Fortunately, Nakimuli-Mpungu found sciences interesting and excelled in them. She studied medicine at MakCHS, graduating in 1999. Her path to psychiatry and research came during a job as a medical officer at Butabika National Referral Mental Hospital in Kampala. She initially thought she would be working in the hospital’s general ward. But when she arrived, she was assigned to the female psychiatric ward and told to start seeing patients. “Almost immediately, I noticed there were really physically sick people on the psychiatric ward, and I had never seen this in my training. Very sick people: wasted, coughing, chronic diarrhoea. It didn’t take long to realise that these were patients with HIV.” But she could find little information on HIV and mental health in her psychiatric textbooks and searched online for research on HIV and mental disorders. “When I read those papers, immediately I said, I think this is the research I should also be doing, here in these patients who I’m seeing on a daily basis.” Butabika Hospital gave her a scholarship and she enrolled in the masters in psychiatry programme at MakCHS in 2003, graduating in 2006. Her research was a comparative study of primary mania versus secondary mania of HIV/AIDS. “It was, to my knowledge, the first time on the African continent that that kind of research was done”, she says. In 2007, she was awarded an International Fulbright Science and Technology Award for PhD studies and went on to complete her PhD in psychiatric epidemiology at Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD, USA, in 2012.

Seggane Musisi, Professor of Psychiatry at MakCHS’s Department of Psychiatry, describes Nakimuli-Mpungu as “a bright and gifted scholar…She has impacted Ugandan and world psychiatry by working to improve access to care of stigmatised, marginalised, and hard to reach people with severe
mental illness in LMICs.” Nakimuli-Mpungu believes the mental health focus in Uganda needs to shift. “The problem in Uganda, maybe not only in Uganda, is that our focus is on the extreme end of the mental health spectrum, severe mental disorders…I feel that we should prioritise mental health. This requires creating awareness, education, and identifying the mild cases and then you step in at that stage…All health workers need to have at least the basic knowledge; they need to learn simple mental health screening to recognise depression. And when you identify a problem, immediately do something, give them an intervention. This does not call for specialised health workers because they’re not there. But we all have mental health, and our mental health needs to be taken care of. Otherwise, it makes our physical health worse, we can’t work, so we can’t develop our communities.”

Mak Editor

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Call for Abstracts: Digital Health Africa 2025

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Call for Abstracts: Digital Health Africa 2025 Conference, 3-4 September 2025.

The Digital Health Africa 2025 Conference will provide practical insights in the potential applications of digital technologies, using maternal and child health, as important examples. Topics of interest will include patient registries, safety signals, vaccine use in pregnancy/breastfeeding, labelling of vaccines in pregnancy, emerging infections and antibiotic resistance, telemedicine, pharmacometric modelling, precision medicine, medicines regulation, ethical and legal aspects, and capability enhancement.

Applying an integrated multi-site face-to-face and remote format, this hybrid Conference will use digital tools to allow delegates and speakers from three different regions, South Africa, Uganda and Germany, as well as fully virtual participants to engage with one another. This will offer a nexus for collaboration and networking to promote partnerships among local and international stakeholders as well as capacity building for young scientists. Delegates will have the opportunity to engage with experts from industry, academia, healthcare providers, government and regulatory agencies as well as patient representatives to learn from one another and to gain valuable insights into the latest trends and best practices in digital health.

Abstracts should fit into one of these categories:

  1. Maternal and Child Health (MCH) & Digital Innovation
  2. Infectious Diseases & Antimicrobial Resistance (AMR)
  3. Digital Health Systems & Scaling
  4. Governance, Data Management & Interoperability
  5. Artificial Intelligence in Health & Research
  6. Pharmacometrics & Digital Tools
  7. Case Studies & Lessons Learned
  8. Cross-cutting & Strategic Perspectives

Submission deadline: 31st July 2025.

Accepted abstracts will be presented as interactive posters:

  • a physical poster presentation at one of the conference sites
  • an e-poster (digital version of your physical poster for sharing online)
  • a 3-minute recorded presentation to accompany the poster.

Presenters with accepted posters will be offered complementary conference registration.

Submit your poster abstract here: https://forms.gle/aXYHeZSwX2EhEUas5

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Emorimor Calls for Makerere to Upgrade Parenting Course

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Prof. Helen Nambalirwa Nkabala, Principal CHUSS represented the Vice Chancellor at the event. Science of Designing, Adaptation, and Implementation of Evidence-Based Parenting Interventions 12-week course, Child Health and Development Centre (CHDC), College of Health Sciences (CHS) graduation presided over by The Iteso Cultural Leader, His Highness Emorimor Papa Paul Sande Emolot, 11th June 2025, Freedom Square, Makerere University, Kampala Uganda, East Africa.

The Iteso Cultural Leader, His Highness Emorimor Papa Paul Sande Emolot, has called on Makerere University to elevate the Science of Designing, Adaptation, and Implementation of Evidence-Based Parenting Interventions course into a fully-fledged programme. This, he argued, would strengthen the capacity of practitioners implementing parenting interventions across Uganda.

Speaking at a graduation ceremony held on 11th June 2025 at Makerere University where 35 practitioners completed the 12-week course, Emorimor Papa Emolot emphasized the transformative power of effective parenting. He urged aspiring parents and advocates of the Parenting for Respectability model to enroll in the course.

Prof. Helen Nambalirwa Nkabala handing over a gift to the Queen of Teso as the Emorimor and other officials witness. Science of Designing, Adaptation, and Implementation of Evidence-Based Parenting Interventions 12-week course, Child Health and Development Centre (CHDC), College of Health Sciences (CHS) graduation presided over by The Iteso Cultural Leader, His Highness Emorimor Papa Paul Sande Emolot, 11th June 2025, Freedom Square, Makerere University, Kampala Uganda, East Africa.
Prof. Helen Nambalirwa Nkabala handing over a gift to the Queen of Teso as the Emorimor and other officials witness.

Citing the impact in his own sub-county and village, the cultural leader revealed that over 800 families had already benefited from the programme.

“We now see peace and love in homes where there was once conflict. Without good parenting, you risk raising animals instead of children,” he passionately stated.

He praised the course for equipping practitioners, policymakers, and researchers with the skills needed to design culturally sensitive, evidence-based parenting interventions tailored to Uganda’s context. Among the notable graduates was Her Royal Majesty Juliet Among Emolot Atomeileng Akaliat Toto, who reaffirmed her commitment to advancing family-strengthening initiatives using the skills and knowledge acquired.

Prof. Helen Nambalirwa Nkabala handing over a gift to a female participant. Science of Designing, Adaptation, and Implementation of Evidence-Based Parenting Interventions 12-week course, Child Health and Development Centre (CHDC), College of Health Sciences (CHS) graduation presided over by The Iteso Cultural Leader, His Highness Emorimor Papa Paul Sande Emolot, 11th June 2025, Freedom Square, Makerere University, Kampala Uganda, East Africa.
Prof. Helen Nambalirwa Nkabala handing over a gift to a female participant.

Dr. Godfrey Siu, Senior Lecturer and Course Leader at Makerere University, described the course as a timely intervention. During this remarks, Dr. Siu described the event as a significant milestone in advancing the field of evidence based parenting intervention and family strengthening in Uganda.

“This course is meant to empower you as practitioners, policy makers and all those involved in development and implementation of parenting work. It provides both theoretical knowledge and practical tools essential for developing high quality interventions”, Dr. Siu noted. He urged the pioneer group to carry forward the expertise as champions of designing, adaptation and implementation of evidence parenting interventions.

Dr. Godfrey Siu, Senior Lecturer at CHDC and Course Leader. Science of Designing, Adaptation, and Implementation of Evidence-Based Parenting Interventions 12-week course, Child Health and Development Centre (CHDC), College of Health Sciences (CHS) graduation presided over by The Iteso Cultural Leader, His Highness Emorimor Papa Paul Sande Emolot, 11th June 2025, Freedom Square, Makerere University, Kampala Uganda, East Africa.
Dr. Godfrey Siu, Senior Lecturer at CHDC and Course Leader.

Representing the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Gender, Labour and Social Development, Dr. Aggrey David Kibenge, Juliana Naumo, Commissioner for Culture and Family Affairs, said the course supports the government’s agenda to address negative social outcomes affecting families.

“By grounding parenting in research, harmonizing policy with practice, and advocating for equity, we will ensure no family is left behind,” she said. “Cross-sectoral collaboration is key to unlocking transformative change.”

Prof. Helen Nambalirwa Nkabala handing over a gift to a female participant. Science of Designing, Adaptation, and Implementation of Evidence-Based Parenting Interventions 12-week course, Child Health and Development Centre (CHDC), College of Health Sciences (CHS) graduation presided over by The Iteso Cultural Leader, His Highness Emorimor Papa Paul Sande Emolot, 11th June 2025, Freedom Square, Makerere University, Kampala Uganda, East Africa.
Prof. Helen Nambalirwa Nkabala handing over a gift to a female participant.

Ms. Naumo highlighted the government’s commitment—both technical and financial—to support outstanding student projects from the course. She stressed the importance of equipping professionals with the skills to bridge gaps between research and practice for consistent, high-quality parenting support across Uganda. While delivering the Vice chancellors speech by Dr. Helen Nambalirwa, Principal of the CHUSS, Prof. Barnabas Nawangwe commended the graduates as a beacon of hope.

“At a time when parenting faces challenges like digital distractions, changing societal norms, and a rising mental health crisis, Makerere reaffirms its support for interventions that drive the societal transformation we desire,” Nawangwe stated.

Prof. Richard Idro, Deputy Principal of the College of Health Sciences, acknowledged the growing parenting challenges in Uganda and the region, adding that the course was a major step towards standardizing parenting interventions nationwide.

Deputy Principal CHS, Assoc. Professor Richard Idro welcomes the Queen of Teso (also one of the course participants). Science of Designing, Adaptation, and Implementation of Evidence-Based Parenting Interventions 12-week course, Child Health and Development Centre (CHDC), College of Health Sciences (CHS) graduation presided over by The Iteso Cultural Leader, His Highness Emorimor Papa Paul Sande Emolot, 11th June 2025, Freedom Square, Makerere University, Kampala Uganda, East Africa.
Deputy Principal CHS, Assoc. Professor Richard Idro welcomes the Queen of Teso (also one of the course participants).

He applauded the Child Health and Development Centre (CHDC) for leading this paramount and critical initiative.

Mr. Hosea Katende, Course Administrator at CHDC, emphasized the importance of integrating systematic methods, ethical principles, robust evidence, and collaboration to create lasting impact in parenting.

Course Participants with Prof. Helen Nambalirwa Nkabala and Assoc. Professor Richard Idro-in blue checked coat cutting cake. Science of Designing, Adaptation, and Implementation of Evidence-Based Parenting Interventions 12-week course, Child Health and Development Centre (CHDC), College of Health Sciences (CHS) graduation presided over by The Iteso Cultural Leader, His Highness Emorimor Papa Paul Sande Emolot, 11th June 2025, Freedom Square, Makerere University, Kampala Uganda, East Africa.
Course Participants with Prof. Helen Nambalirwa Nkabala and Assoc. Professor Richard Idro-in blue checked coat cutting cake.

Dr. Aggrey Dhabangi, Lecturer at CHDC, representing Dr. Herbert Muyinda, Director of CHDC, acknowledged the contributions of partners such as the ELMA Foundation and Echidna Giving for their financial and capacity-building support. He also appreciated the Ministry of Gender, Labour and Social Development, among other stakeholders, for their technical guidance in the programme’s successful implementation.

Dr. Dhabangi extended gratitude to cultural institutions, especially the Kingdom of Teso, and acknowledged growing collaborations with other cultural institutions such as the Kingdom of Acholi, in the shared mission of building strong families as the foundation of Uganda’s future.

Participants of the Course. Science of Designing, Adaptation, and Implementation of Evidence-Based Parenting Interventions 12-week course, Child Health and Development Centre (CHDC), College of Health Sciences (CHS) graduation presided over by The Iteso Cultural Leader, His Highness Emorimor Papa Paul Sande Emolot, 11th June 2025, Freedom Square, Makerere University, Kampala Uganda, East Africa.
Participants of the Course.

He extended his heartfelt gratitude to cultural institutions, especially the Kingdom of Teso, and others kingdoms such as the Kingdom of Acholi, in building Uganda’s future through creating strong families. Nuruh Mbalyowere, a Rehabilitation and Reintegration Officer with the Uganda Prisons Service, was honored for developing the best parenting intervention titled “Parenting Behind Prison Bars.” She expressed her intention to apply the knowledge gained both at home and in her workplace.

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MakSPH, DJC Launch Short Course on Health Communication

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The heads of the Department of Journalism and Communication and the Department of Community Health and Behavioural Sciences (centre) with participants from the first cohort of the Health Communication short course at Makerere University. June 5, 2025. Intensive one-month course on Health Communication, first cohort June 5 to July 24, 2025, jointly offered by Makerere University School of Public Health (MakSPH)’s Department of Community Health and Behavioural Sciences (CHBS) and the Department of Journalism and Communication (DJC), School of Languages, Literature, and Communication (SLLC), co-designed in 2024 with support from the Rockefeller Foundation through Amref Health Africa, Kampala Uganda, East Africa.

By Okeya John and Primrose Nabankema

The intensive one-month course, running for the first time from June 5 to July 24, 2025, is jointly offered by Makerere University School of Public Health (MakSPH)’s Department of Community Health and Behavioural Sciences (CHBS) and the Department of Journalism and Communication (DJC) at the School of Languages, Literature, and Communication (SLLC), co-designed in 2024 with support from the Rockefeller Foundation through Amref Health Africa.

It seeks to equip healthcare providers at the community level, public health and environmental health practitioners, communication specialists, health educators, community development officers, social scientists, and policy makers, among others, with strategic communication skills to improve public health messaging, strengthen community engagement, and support evidence-based interventions, ultimately empowering participants to effectively engage communities and improve population health outcomes across Uganda and the region.

Launching the course, the heads of the Department of Journalism and Communication and the Department of Community Health and Behavioural Sciences noted that participants who complete the short course will gain practical tools to influence behaviour change, build trust, and deliver timely, accurate, and relevant health information to the communities they serve. The first cohort attracted more than 60 applicants, with 36 reporting for the opening in-person session on June 5, 2025, at MakSPH in Mulago. Between now and July, participants will undergo a hands-on, multidisciplinary learning experience within the Certificate in Health Communication and Community Engagement program, which combines theory and practice.

Among the participants in the first cohort of the certificate course, designed as a pilot for the anticipated Master of Health Promotion and Communication to be jointly offered by the two departments at Makerere University, is Ms. Maureen Kisaakye, a medical laboratory technologist specialising in microbiology and antimicrobial resistance (AMR), and currently pursuing a Master’s in Immunology and Clinical Microbiology at Makerere. She is driven by a passion to help reverse the rising tide of AMR, a growing global health threat where drugs that once worked are no longer effective. Kisaakye is particularly concerned about common infections, like urinary tract infections, becoming increasingly resistant and harder to treat.

“I enrolled in this course because I’m an advocate against antimicrobial resistance, and it came at a time when I needed to deepen my knowledge on how to implement our projects more effectively and engage with communities. The experience has broadened my understanding of AMR and its impact on society, and strengthened my passion for community-driven health initiatives and advocacy,” Kisaakye said, explaining why she enrolled for the short course.

Ms. Maureen Kisaakye (in white) during a youth-led community AMR and WASH awareness campaign in informal settlements in Kamwokya, Kampala, on 12th April, 2025. Intensive one-month course on Health Communication, first cohort June 5 to July 24, 2025, jointly offered by Makerere University School of Public Health (MakSPH)’s Department of Community Health and Behavioural Sciences (CHBS) and the Department of Journalism and Communication (DJC), School of Languages, Literature, and Communication (SLLC), co-designed in 2024 with support from the Rockefeller Foundation through Amref Health Africa, Kampala Uganda, East Africa.
Ms. Maureen Kisaakye (in white) during a youth-led community AMR and WASH awareness campaign in informal settlements in Kamwokya, Kampala, on 12th April, 2025.

Kisaakye’s work in antimicrobial resistance extends beyond the lab. Having earned her degree in medical laboratory science from Mbarara University of Science and Technology, she founded Impala Tech Research in 2024 to drive impact and save lives. She has led grassroots AMR campaigns that integrate antimicrobial stewardship with water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH) education in underserved urban communities, including the informal settlements in Kampala. She also has since designed peer-led initiatives that empower university students as AMR Champions, building a network of informed youth advocates. Kisaakye believes the health communication course will sharpen her ability to design and deliver impactful, community-centred interventions in response to the growing threat of drug resistance.

“The department collaborates with many partners within and beyond the University, including the School of Public Health, where we are working to develop the subfield of health communication and promotion. Our goal is to train specialists in this area and build a community of practice, something we have each been doing in our own spaces. There’s a lot of work ahead, and COVID-19 showed us just how urgently we need a generation trained to do this kind of work, and to do it very well,” said Dr. Aisha Nakiwala, Head of the Department of Journalism and Communication, during the opening of the short course on June 5.

Dr. Aisha Nakiwala, Head of the Department of Journalism and Communication, underscored the partnership between DJC and MakSPH as a crucial step toward strengthening public health through strategic communication. June 5th, 2025. Intensive one-month course on Health Communication, first cohort June 5 to July 24, 2025, jointly offered by Makerere University School of Public Health (MakSPH)’s Department of Community Health and Behavioural Sciences (CHBS) and the Department of Journalism and Communication (DJC), School of Languages, Literature, and Communication (SLLC), co-designed in 2024 with support from the Rockefeller Foundation through Amref Health Africa, Kampala Uganda, East Africa.
Dr. Aisha Nakiwala, Head of the Department of Journalism and Communication, underscored the partnership between DJC and MakSPH as a crucial step toward strengthening public health through strategic communication. June 5, 2025.

She assured participants they were in good hands and underscored the importance of the partnership between the Department of Journalism and Communication and the School of Public Health, describing it as a vital collaboration that brings together strategic communication and public health expertise. This dynamic, multidisciplinary approach, she noted, is essential to developing practical solutions that empower communities, strengthen health systems, and ultimately improve livelihoods.

The course offers a hands-on, multidisciplinary learning experience, with participants intended to explore key modules including Health Communication and Promotion, Risk Communication, Smart Advocacy, Community Mapping, Community Mobilisation and Empowerment, and Strategies for Community Engagement. The course combines theory with real-world application, and its assessment includes a field-based project and a final exam.

“You are our first cohort. We are seeing the fruits of our efforts in bringing this short course to life. It was born out of a joint initiative to develop a Master’s programme in Health Promotion and Communication,” said Dr. Christine Nalwadda, Head of the Department of Community Health and Behavioural Sciences. “We carried out extensive consultations with our different key stakeholders during the process and discovered a real need for such a course. It was the stakeholders who even named it; this course name didn’t come from us.”

For Kisaakye, by the end of the course in July, she hopes to have sharpened her skills in health promotion and strategic communication, particularly in crafting targeted messages that help individuals and communities effectively respond to threats such as antimicrobial resistance. She also aims to gain practical experience in designing, implementing, and evaluating community health initiatives that can strengthen her advocacy and drive lasting impact.

Dr. Marjorie Kyomuhendo, one of the course facilitators, engages Mr. Jackson Ssewanyana, a participant in the first cohort of the Certificate in Health Communication and Community Engagement, as Ms. Maureen Kisaakye listens in. June 5, 2025. Intensive one-month course on Health Communication, first cohort June 5 to July 24, 2025, jointly offered by Makerere University School of Public Health (MakSPH)’s Department of Community Health and Behavioural Sciences (CHBS) and the Department of Journalism and Communication (DJC), School of Languages, Literature, and Communication (SLLC), co-designed in 2024 with support from the Rockefeller Foundation through Amref Health Africa, Kampala Uganda, East Africa.
Dr. Marjorie Kyomuhendo, one of the course facilitators, engages Mr. Jackson Ssewanyana, a participant in the first cohort of the Certificate in Health Communication and Community Engagement, as Ms. Maureen Kisaakye listens in. June 5, 2025.

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