Veterinary & Biosecurity
Uganda Commemorates One Health Day with a call for a Multi-Sectoral Approach to address emerging health threats
By Joseph Odoi
On 3rd November 2022, Uganda joined the rest of the world in celebrating One Health Day. This year marks the seventh annual One Health Day, a global campaign that celebrates and brings attention to the need for a One Health approach to address shared health threats at the human-animal-environment interface.
One Health Day is an initiative that gives One Health advocates and practitioners around the world a powerful voice for moving beyond provincial approaches to emerging zoonotic infectious diseases, antimicrobial resistance, climate change, environmental pollution, food safety, comparative/ translational medicine and many other problems, to a holistic, One Health, way of thinking and acting for the benefit of all living creatures.
While giving a keynote speech at Presidential Hall in Kampala under the theme “Our Planet, Our Health” at the Office of the President in Kampala, Dr. Lawrence Mugisha, an Associate Professor at Makerere University College of Veterinary Medicine, Animal Resources and Bio-Security (CoVAB) in a special way welcomed participants to the One-Health day celebrations. He noted that there’s urgent need for all sectors to work together if emerging and re-emerging infectious diseases and other public health threats are to be addressed.
“The challenges we face today whether health-related like emerging and re-emerging infectious diseases or public disasters like flooding, drought among others are complex, cross-cutting and cross different borders requiring one health approach which is multidisciplinary that facilitates collaboration, coordination and communication among different professionals/disciplines to address the public health events quickly. This helps to quickly identify appropriate interventions timely and use available resources effectively,”
Citing WHO data, Professor Mugisha noted AMR one of the emerging public health challenges which if left unchecked will contribute to 10 million deaths per year
To address these challenges, Prof.Mugisha recommended the following
- Raising public awareness about AMR and AMU
- Promoting water, hygiene and sanitation
- Enhanced AMR/AMU Surveillance in humans, animals and environment
- Investing in human capital for innovative research in vaccines and alternative therapeutic approaches like herbal use for the replacement of Antibiotic use.
In her presentation titled; Progress of Implementation of the anti-microbial resistance national action plan, Dr. Hellen Byomire Ndagije from National Drug Authority emphasized the importance of raising awareness to combat anti-microbial resistance adding that national drug authority has been holding Meetings to raise awareness of antimicrobial stewardship (AMS) and antimicrobial resistance (AMR) among health workers in pharmacies, and drug shops both human and animal medicine use
As part of capacity building to address AMR, she supported strengthening the Medicine Therapeutic Committees (MTCs) in regional referral hospitals with logistical support and technical training on rational medicine use and pharmacovigilance. In terms of antibiotics demand, she noted Uganda currently imports over 50,000 kilograms which should call for close vigilance.
To promote optimal access and use of antimicrobials, she recommended regular and risk-based testing of imported antimicrobials and medical equipment to assure their quality. She emphasized the need for good distribution practice standards to guarantee that antimicrobials are restored and dispensed in a way that does not compromise quality or efficacy. She said there was need to promote good manufacturing practices (GMP) inspections for both foreign and local drug manufacturers to ensure compliance to quality standards of manufacture, in addition to enforcing compliance monitoring and support supervision of human and veterinary drug outlets to ensure compliance to drug regulatory requirements.
As a way forward, she made recommendations that included the strengthening of stakeholder engagement, awareness, training and collaboration. The need for improved access to quality, safe and efficacious antimicrobials was emphasized in addition to strengthening pharmacovigilance: reporting ADE (AMR surveillance)
Dr. Ndadije stressed the need to promote rational use of drugs as well as investing in research and innovations
In her presentation, Dr. Lydia Nakiire under the Project titled 7-1-7 timeliness at Infectious Diseases Institute, Global Health Security Program said the Ministry of Health conducted a pilot study, ‘To Save Lives’ through Infectious Diseases Institute to identify bottlenecks causing delays in detection, notification and response.
During the study, she said, it was observed that application of One Health during responses to public health emergencies was one of the major enablers for timely initiation of early response. ‘’Recent outbreaks like Ebola Sudan virus disease and COVID 19 make it necessary to review the lessons learnt from recent public health events, reevaluate approaches and develop frameworks to measure progress towards making the world safe from public health threats.
The 7-1-7 framework proposes timeliness matrix with defined targets; 7 days to suspected outbreak detection, 1 day for public health authorities to be notified and the investigation is initiated within 7days. The 7-1-7 metric can supplement existing capacity measurements of the International Health Regulations (2005), including the Joint External Evaluation and Global Health Security Index’ explained Dr. Nakiire.
In his presentation on behalf of Dr. Immaculate Nabukenya, Senior Project Manager, NAPHS A-Team Uganda Herbert Bakiika shared the progress of Implementation of the Uganda National Action Plan for Health Security (NAPHS) and 2022 Operational Plan.
He noted there is progress in the following as mechanism of addressing AMR, and that the guidelines for mandatory license were drafted, but not approved. He further said that decentralizing One Health in 50 districts by 2024 to strengthen coordination of surveillance and response to zoonotic diseases was underway. Uganda committed to achieving demonstrated capacity in at least 3 technical areas by 2024.
He said the other milestone was licensing of all laboratories across animal, human, food, nuclear and chemical sectors by 2024 to strengthen the national laboratory network. On how this will be achieved, she said government was to liaise with professional councils to license laboratories in line with basic Quality Management Services (QMS)
Dr. Jonathan Mayito from Uganda Fleming Fund highlighted Inadequate human resources in the microbiology laboratories, Irrational and overuse of antibiotics, Lack of AMR data sharing across one health sectors, Lack of structures response to the emerging AMR epidemic as some of the challenges that needed to be addressed.
Moving forward, he recommended streamlining the supply of microbiology supplies by National Medical Stores, Increase human resources allocation through public service commission, data sharing agreement to enable data sharing to inform strategies and above all creating a National Task Force to investigate and respond to AMR alerts/outbreaks.
The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO)’s Country Director, Bessong Willington emphasized the importance of capacity building to support timely intervention when addressing disease outbreaks. He called upon different sectors to work collaboratively and in a multidisciplinary fashion under the One Health Approach.
In his remarks read by Dr. John Opolot, Dr. Henry Mwebesa congratulated participants for marking the one-health day. He that 61% of all existing human infections in the past decade have been zoonotic including Ebola, HIV, and influenza and that 80 % of pathogens could potentially be used for bio terrorism.
In addition, to effectively strengthen One Health initiatives in Uganda, the Ministry of Health has embarked on roll out of the third edition of the integrated disease surveillance and response in over seven health regions using One Health approaches. The ministry, he said, also piloted integrated (both animal and human) sample transportation from communities using the hub transportation network using One Health Approaches.
On the importance of a multi-sectoral approach towards addressing public health challenges, Dr. Mwebesa emphasized the importance of involving all state and non-state actors including civil society and the private sector in one-health programmes.
In terms of government commitment, Dr. Mwebesa noted that The Ministry of Health will continue to support the One Health initiative, and currently government is funding division of veterinary public health and zoonoses which is supporting decentralization of One Health in over 30 districts to strengthen multi-sectoral emergency preparedness at sub-national level.
On current outbreak of Ebola, Dr. Mwebesa said The ministry of health shall continue to engage the National One Health platform in the current epidemic and urged all stakeholders to observe standard operating procedures to prevent the spread of Ebola virus disease. He equally thanked development, Implementing Partners and private sector partners for the financial and technical support towards the One Health initiatives as long forward to prevention, detection and response to emerging public health emergencies in the country.
Veterinary & Biosecurity
Alumni of Molecular Biology Honor Prof. George William Lubega for Outstanding Contributions
Veterinary & Biosecurity
Uganda Advances Bacteriophage Research in Fight against Antimicrobial Resistance
Makerere University convened a symposium to explore bacteriophage applications in combating antimicrobial resistance (AMR) and addressing health, agricultural, and environmental challenges. Organized by The Alliance for Phage Research and Development Uganda Ltd (PhageTeam Uganda), the event brought together researchers from Makerere University, Kyambogo University, Kampala International University, and Ian Clarke International University, and other players, highlighting a collaborative approach to tackling global and local issues.
Day two of the symposium saw researchers and policy makers together with partners from the UK and USA hold a discourse on the best way forward in the promotion of bacteriophage research and production in the country to support efforts against anti-microbial resistance.
Speaking at the event held at Hilton Garden Inn, Dr. Jesca Nakavuma, the lead phage researcher from the College of Veterinary Medicine, Animal Resources and Biosecurity (CoVAB), Makerere University, stressed the urgent need for alternative antimicrobial agents due to the rise in drug resistance and limited discovery of new antibiotics. Bacteriophages, natural viruses that target bacteria, she said, were identified as a promising solution to revolutionize disease control, treatment, and food security. She said research in this area was key because humankind was at risk of the impending calamity of life-threatening treatment failure.
Prof. Robert Wamala, Makerere University‘s Director for Research, Innovations, and Partnerships, who spoke on behalf of the Vice Chancellor, Prof. Barnabas Nawangwe, underscored the importance of building local capacity in phage research. He noted that such efforts could enhance Uganda’s resilience against AMR and yield homegrown solutions for human, animal, and crop health.
As the world grapples with the growing threat of antimicrobial resistance (AMR), bacteriophage research offers a promising alternative. Phages, which are natural enemies of bacteria, have the potential to revolutionize the approach to treatment, disease control, and food security, he noted. He said building local expertise in phage application can enhance Uganda’s resilience against AMR and produce sustainable homegrown solutions to health and environmental challenges.
Prof. Robert Wamala said Makerere University was committed to supporting cutting-edge research and innovation that addresses national and global challenges in line with the university’s role in knowledge generation, technology advancement, and policy influence. The importance of regulatory institutions, he said, cannot be overemphasized in this endeavor, since they enforce compliance, uphold ethical standards, and foster an enabling environment for impactful research and innovation. He said the engagement presented an opportunity to strengthen collaboration between researchers, institutions, and regulatory bodies to ensure that the outcomes are scientifically sound and are aligned to the national development priorities and global best practices.
Dr. Claire M. Mugasa, the Dean of the School of Biosecurity, Biotechnical and Laboratory Sciences (SBLS), CoVAB reiterated the fact that antimicrobial resistance was on the rise in Uganda and Africa, more than elsewhere in the world. She said it was time now that efforts be intensified in looking for sustainable options to curb the dangerous trends. She said this cuts across the human and the animals. She said it was an opportune time for players to come together to find ways of getting the required alternative. She said by coming together, the different ideas developed individually would in a concerted effort, pulling resources together for a way forward.
During the discourse, several subjects were addressed, including an introduction to antimicrobial resistance, phage biology, phage application, and lessons learnt from the establishment of a phage research centre in the UK, which was presented by Prof. Martha Clokie from the University of Leicester. This initiative reflects a commitment to fostering innovation, collaboration, and regulatory compliance, positioning Uganda as a leader in sustainable solutions for global challenges.
The symposium was sponsored by Global AMR Innovation Fund (GAMRIF), through a grant to the UK Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) in partnership with Phages for Global Health.
Veterinary & Biosecurity
First Symposium on Bacteriophage Research & Applications in Uganda Highlights Remarkable Milestones & Future Prospects
Bacteriophage research and its applications were the focal point of the 1st Symposium on Bacteriophage Research and Applications, convened by Makerere University‘s College of Veterinary Medicine, Animal Resources and Biosecurity (CoVAB) on Thursday, March 27, 2025. This landmark event showcased Uganda’s strides in harnessing bacteriophages as innovative solutions to antimicrobial resistance (AMR) and other pressing health and agricultural challenges.
Key speakers included Dr. Jesca Nakavuma, CoVAB (Makerere University), who showcased Uganda’s pioneering phage research initiatives and vision. Tobi Elaine Nagel, the President of Phages for Global Health (USA), discussed the global significance of phage research. Prof. Martha Clokie, from the University of Leicester’s Centre for Phage Research (UK), shared insights into the latest advancements in phage therapy. Dr. Robert Blasdel, representing VASALE (Belgium), presented innovative solutions using bacteriophages. Ms. Abigail Riggs, from the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (UK), emphasized international partnerships and policy development.
Speaking at the event, Prof. Edward Wamala, Makerere University’s Director of Research, Innovation and Partnerships, who represented the Vice Chancellor Prof. Barnabas Nawangwe at the event, highlighted the critical role of bacteriophage research in addressing the global threat of antimicrobial resistance (AMR). He explained how the misuse and overuse of antibiotics in human health, agriculture, and aquaculture have accelerated the emergence of drug-resistant bacterial strains, rendering standard treatments ineffective. Citing statistics from the World Health Organization, he pointed out that AMR claims over 1.3 million lives annually, a number expected to rise without urgent action. He lamented the stagnation of new antibiotic development due to high research costs and rapid bacterial resistance, making bacteriophage therapy a powerful and promising alternative.
Prof. Wamala expressed Makerere University’s commitment to advancing research that addresses critical societal challenges, aligning with its mission of generating transformative knowledge and fostering sustainable development. He emphasized Uganda’s potential to lead in bacteriophage research, driven by multi-disciplinary partnerships and capacity building. He also highlighted ongoing studies into aquaculture-specific bacteriophages at CoVAB as an example of how phage technology can revolutionize sectors like agriculture while addressing AMR. Through such efforts, the university aims to position Uganda as a global leader in innovative solutions to combat antimicrobial resistance and enhance public health.
Dr. Jesca Nakavuma, widely regarded as the mother of phages in Uganda, delivered a compelling presentation at the Symposium, where she detailed the impressive progress of phage research in Uganda since its inception in 2017. She highlighted Makerere University’s pioneering efforts, starting with a cohort of five undergraduate students, which have since expanded into groundbreaking research addressing challenges in agriculture, clinical health, food safety, and environmental safety. Key achievements include advancements in E. coli and Salmonella detection, tackling avian colibacillosis, and innovations in decontamination methods, underscoring the transformative potential of phage technology in combating antimicrobial resistance and enhancing public health.
The symposium honored collaborative efforts, including the establishment and accomplishments of Phage Team Uganda, which developed a repository of 125 characterized phage isolates and trained over 20 PhDs, MScs, and BSc students. Partnerships with international organizations such as IDRC InnoVet AMR and AU Safe Fish have significantly contributed to advancements in antimicrobial resistance and aquaculture.
Despite these achievements, Dr. Nakavuma noted challenges such as insufficient facilities for large-scale phage production, regulatory limitations, and financial constraints. She affirmed that despite the challenges, the team remained ambitious, envisioning the creation of a fully equipped Phage Research and Development Center, the commercialization of phage products, and the establishment of policy frameworks to support the use of phages in Uganda.
The Deputy Principal of CoVAB, Prof. James Acai Okwee, warmly welcomed the partners to the conference and acknowledged their invaluable contributions to the college’s research efforts. He emphasized the importance of collaboration in driving innovation and achieving impactful results, highlighting the pivotal role that partnerships play in fostering academic and scientific growth. Prof. Okwee’s remarks set an encouraging tone for the conference, reinforcing the college’s commitment to advancing research initiatives and creating opportunities for shared learning and development.
The event that attracted the participation of various stakeholders including academia, civil society, and policy makers, concluded with acknowledgments of the efforts of Phage Team Uganda, collaborators, and funders, setting the stage for an exciting future in Uganda’s journey to combat antimicrobial resistance and ensure food and environmental safety.
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