Researchers at Makerere University School of Public Health (MakSPH) are urging the Ugandan government to boost healthcare funding to enhance reproductive health services. Dr. Dinah Amongin, an obstetrics and gynecology expert at MakSPH, has expressed concern about the lack of access to family planning methods, which forces women to use less preferred options due to unavailability.
Dr. Amongin notes that within just six months to a year of using contraception, some women encountered issues and switched methods. This highlights the need for the Ministry of Health to improve the availability of various contraceptive options. A rights-based approach to contraception ensures that women have access to a range of methods, preventing situations where desired options are unavailable at health facilities.
Performance Monitoring for Action’s Phase 2 Survey Results by MakSPH (Sept-Nov 2021) reveals increased stockouts of injectables and erratic availability of pills at 225 public FP facilities, mainly due to supply issues.
“Stockouts are a significant issue, and this extends to parliamentary discussions on health sector budgets. As we focus on human capital development and improving maternal and newborn health outcomes, we must consider crucial components like preventing unwanted pregnancies through family planning. The budget allocation for the health sector directly impacts this issue. When women cannot access their preferred contraceptive methods due to stockouts, it reflects a failure in our legislative and budgeting processes. This situation forces women to switch to fewer desirable methods, which is not acceptable,” says Dr. Amongin.
Adding that; “These are things we need to continue discussing as a country but we must invest into family planning. We can talk about human capital development but until we step up and actually support women to prevent unwanted pregnancies, support them in their decisions of whether she wants to use a method for contraception or not. That is her choice. We must make sure access to the methods of her choice is actually addressed.”
Dr. Dinah Amongin, an obstetrics and gynecology expert at MakSPH, has expressed concern about the lack of access to family planning methods, which forces women to use less preferred options due to unavailability.
Dr. Amongin’s comments follow a recent study on the I-CAN/Nsobola/An atwero social support intervention, piloted in Mayuge and Oyam districts in 2023. The study highlights that social support significantly improves women’s ability to make informed contraceptive choices, potentially leading to better reproductive health outcomes.
Part of the Innovations for Choice and Autonomy (ICAN) project, the study shows that self-injection with DMPA-SC (Sayana Press) could increase contraceptive use, especially among women with limited access to healthcare. Despite the rollout of this method in 2017, its use remains low in Uganda. Sayana Press as popularly known is a subcutaneous depot medroxyprogesterone acetate (DMPA-SC). It is a hormonal birth control shot, administered under the skin and is an all-in-one contraceptive that puts women in charge of their reproductive health.
Social support boosts self-efficacy, enhances privacy, and reduces access barriers, making self-management easier. Family planning helps manage the number and timing of children, lowering maternal and infant mortality rates and reducing complications from pregnancy. Conversely, unmet contraceptive needs can lead to unintended pregnancies and their associated risks.
A woman self-injecting while demonstrating to fellow women in Oyam district.
In Uganda, 52% of pregnancies are unwanted or mistimed, with over 43% due to unmet family planning needs. The country’s youthful population complicates the issue, with 50% under 17 years old, at least according to the recent National Population Census. Notably, 10% of girls, one in every 10 girls you encounter, has already had sex before she turns 15 years, and 20% of boys, two in 10 boys have engaged in sexual intercourse by the same age.
Uganda’s population pyramid showing age and sex composition of the population as of 2024. Source UBOS, Census 2024.
Methods of contraception include oral contraceptive pills, implants, injectables, patches, vaginal rings, intra uterine devices, condoms, male and female sterilization, lactational amenorrhea methods, withdrawal and fertility awareness-based methods.
Global statistics show that 77.5% of women aged 15–49 had their family planning needs met with modern methods in 2022, up from 67% in 1990. In sub-Saharan Africa, the proportion of women who have their need for family planning satisfied with modern methods (SDG indicator 3.7.1) continues to be among the lowest in the world at 56 per cent. Nevertheless, it also increased faster than in any other region of the world, having more than doubled since 1990, when this proportion was only 24 per cent.
Among 1.9 billion women of reproductive age (15-49 years), an estimated 874 million women use a modern contraceptive method and 92 million, a traditional contraceptive method. The number of modern contraceptive users has nearly doubled worldwide since 1990 (from 467 million). Yet, there are still 164 million women who want to delay or avoid pregnancy and are not using any contraceptive method, and thus are considered to have an unmet need for family planning.
Number of women of reproductive age (15-49 years) using various contraceptive methods, world, 2020 (millions and percentage)
Slow progress is due to factors like limited method choices, restricted access, fear of side effects, cultural opposition, and gender-based barriers.
Between 2015 and 2019, there were 121 million unintended pregnancies annually worldwide – 48 per cent of all pregnancies. Despite decreases in the rate of unintended pregnancy in all regions over the past three decades, nearly one in 10 women in sub-Saharan Africa, Western Asia and Northern Africa, and Oceania (excluding Australia and New Zealand) continue to experience an unintended pregnancy every year
Watercolor painted fetus illustration.
In Uganda, where healthcare services are stretched thin and women juggle numerous responsibilities, accessing contraceptives can be challenging.
Dr. Amongin emphasizes that self-injection methods like DMPA-SC, also known as Sayana Press could ease the burden on women facing long queues and logistical challenges at health facilities. “This method allows for discretion and reduces the need for frequent visits, which is crucial for women with busy lives,” she says.
Researchers argue that the health sector’s budget should include substantial funding for family planning. The high cost of inaction is evident: neglecting family planning leads to unplanned pregnancies, which ultimately burdens families and the nation. Addressing this issue early in the life cycle is crucial to prevent these long-term consequences.
“This is the gist of the matter behind all our research, that a woman’s preference needs to be respected. The health facilities must stock commodities so that when a woman is in need, she actually gets it,” noted Dr. Amongin.
PMA researchers surveyed DMPA-SC (Sayana Press) users to find out if they self-administered the injection or received it from a healthcare provider. Results show a slight increase in self-injection among users between 2020-2021.
Dr. Peter Waiswa, an Associate Professor at MakSPH, stresses the importance of informed choice in family planning. ICAN studies across Kenya, Malawi, Nigeria, and Uganda show that self-injection benefits all women, including young adolescents. “Supporting young people to make informed choices helps prevent unintended pregnancies,” says Prof. Waiswa.
“We spent four years trying to understand which women benefit from injecting themselves. And we found that all women benefit from it, including younger children. Because younger children in Uganda, whether we hide our heads in the sand or not, especially those 12 years and above are having sex and some of them using contraceptives,” Professor Waiswa says.
Dr. Peter Waiswa, an Associate Professor at MakSPH interacts with legislators Hon. Nancy Acora, the Lamwo District Woman MP and the Mbarara district woman MP Ayebare Margaret Rwebyambu.
What is factually true is that by age 18, 60% of Ugandans have reported having sexual intercourse. Despite the benefits, dropout rates from family planning methods remain high due to side effects and lack of support. Dr. Waiswa also, a Public Health specialist, critique and dreamer for better health systems for mothers, newborns and children in Africa calls for better education and support to address these issues.
“As a way of being supported in a safe space whereby people are not asking questions, they are not fearing parents, they are not fearing other people, then they can use the methods. What we did in Mayuge and Oyam, we trained women who are users of family planning. To identify people who need to use family planning but are not currently using and then they go and see whether they can use or not. And we found that when people are supported, those groups which are currently not being reached can be reached by family planning,” argues Prof. Waiswa.
Women with most recent unintended pregnancies by age and residence. 2 in 5 women had their last pregnancy unintended in Uganda. 13% wanted no more while 33% wanted later. Source, PMA
A 2021 study found that contraceptive discontinuation significantly impacts the effectiveness of family planning services, leading to higher fertility rates, unwanted pregnancies, and induced abortions.
Analysis of data from PMA 2020 show that 6.8% of women discontinued contraceptive use, with discontinuation linked to factors such as age, marital status, method type, and health concerns. The study suggests prioritizing interventions to encourage contraceptive use among young people and promoting partner involvement and awareness, as many contraceptive methods are not discreet.
Prof. Waiswa is concerned of the high dropout rate from family planning methods, where many women discontinue use due to side effects, a need for better education and support.
“We need to see how to educate women so that they are informed when they are choosing a method to use. They need to have enough information because when they discontinue, the method can be ineffective, can cause side effects, but also these methods are expensive, so they waste money. There are a lot of those who change to other methods. We are learning a lot on the use of family planning why we still have a large unmet need,” says Prof. Waiswa.
Contraceptive methods used among women of reproductive age (15-49 years), world and by region, 1995 and 2020 (percentage) -Source: UN – World Family Planning 2022 Report
Ms. Roseline Achola, Technical Specialist for Sexual and Reproductive Health and Self-Care at the Ministry of Health, hailed the MakSPH study on self-injection contraception. She noted that the findings will help her enhance support for self-care initiatives. However, she expressed that only 29% of women willing to self-inject as indicated in the study is still low, highlighting a need to address barriers to increase acceptance as well as managing sexually active adolecents. “We must discuss how to handle minors seeking contraception to prevent unintended pregnancies,” she says.
On Friday August 23, 2024, the Daily Monitor reported, an increase in young girls adopting family planning to combat teenage pregnancies and school dropouts. Quoting data from the Uganda Health Information System, statistics show that between March 2023 and March 2024, 2,476 girls under 15 had their first antenatal care visit, and 1,755 gave birth. The highest number of pregnancies among this age group was in Oyam district.
In this period, Lango subregion saw 52 pregnancies among this age group, with Oyam district recording the highest at 10 cases. The 2021 UNFPA fact sheet indicates that Busoga region, particularly Kamuli and Mayuge districts, has the highest rates of teenage pregnancies, with 6,535 and 6,205 cases respectively.
Calculations based on United Nations, Department of Economic and Social Affairs, Population Division (2022). World Contraceptive Use 2022.
“As the country, it’s clear that adolescents are limited to access to contraception because of so many reasons. For us as a Ministry, any woman between the age of 15 to 49 is a woman of reproductive age and that tells you that she is capable of getting pregnant and when such a girl of probably 15 years goes to a facility to seek for contraception, it rings a message that actually she is sexually active. So how do we handle her? So that is a matter of discussion for the country.
It is a matter that the nation needs to decide on, because we all know the girls are getting pregnant, the girls want to use contraception, but they have no access because of the fact that they are children,” wondered Achola.
Assoc. Prof. Lynn Atuyambe one of the researchers on post-abortion care shares a light moment with Ms. Roseline Achola, Technical Specialist for Sexual and Reproductive Health and Self-Care at the Ministry of Health during the ICAN Dissemination on July 31, 2024 at Golden Tulip Hotel, Kampala.
Unintended pregnancies and Uganda’s abortion paradox
Abortion in Uganda, is largely illegal except in specific circumstances. It contributes to maternal death due to unsafe practices. Between 2010 and 2014, WHO reported that 30.6million abortions conducted were safe and 25.1million were unsafe. 97% of these occurred in developing countries. In East Africa, the total number of abortions per year according to the Lancet are around 2.65million.
The Ministry of Health’s HMIS data show a rise in abortion cases, with 96,620 reported between July 2020 and June 2021in both government and private health facilities.
Another recent study on the quality of post-abortion care by MakSPH researchers Assoc. Prof. Lynn Atuyambe, Dr. Justine Bukenya, Dr. Arthur Bagonza and Mr. Sam Etajak highlights the need for accurate post-abortion care data to improve healthcare planning and policymaking.
Dr. Arthur Bagonza, a Public Health Consultant and Research fellow with specialization in health systems at MakSPH and one of the uality of post-abortion care has called for accurate abortion data to improve healthcare planning and policymaking. He notes that health workers often avoid documenting abortion data due to legal fears and calls for reforms to restrictive laws to ensure accurate reporting without legal repercussions.
“All assessed health facilities reviewed in our study achieved a 100% timeliness rate for report submissions. However, significant disparities were observed in data accuracy between different levels of health facilities, with lower-level facilities (HC IIs and HC IIIs) showing higher rates of data discrepancies,” says Dr. Bagonza.
Dr. Arthur Bagonza., a Public Health Consultant and Research fellow at MakSPH presenting results of the quality of post abortion care. He calls for accurate abortion data to improve healthcare planning and policymaking.
According to Dr. Amongin, the high incidence of early sexual activity among Uganda’s youth is a pressing public health issue.
“We know as a country many women continue to die following unsafe abortions; abortions for pregnancies that they did not want. And these abortions are highest among adolescents and also other women categories.
We would want to ensure that we actually enhance access to contraceptives, but making it easier for them to have it and putting the power in the hands of a woman to as much extent as we can. So that a woman can practice what we call self-care, but of course she also will need the support of the healthcare system. But we want this power in women’s hands because of all the challenges that the women actually can encounter in accessing these methods,” she said.
On her part, Achola insists that abortion should not be a last resort for women and urges them to abstain or use protective means in order to avoid unwanted pregnancies. She notes that as long as abortion remains illegal in Uganda, many health workers will avoid addressing it, leading people to unsafe alternatives.
“I can’t be happy because abortion means we have failed to give people a method of their choice to prevent that pregnancy. Or the people are not able to access contraception to prevent unintended pregnancies. Abortion is not the last resort, it’s not a solution because it has its own complications as well,” says Achola.
Ms. Roseline Achola, Technical Specialist for Sexual and Reproductive Health and Self-Care at the Ministry of Health listens through during one of the dissemination sessions organised by MakSPH.
Despite this, Achola, notes most of the women who walk in health facilities with post-abortion complications must be attended to. “Whereas we don’t encourage people to do abortions, as Ministry of Health we are mandated to handle all complications for anyone who walks in our facilities because our priority is to save life. We want to urge women to avoid certain things. Why should you wait for unintended pregnancy to occur and then abort?”
Dr. Charles Olaro, a Senior Consultant Surgeon and the Director Health services – Curative in the Ministry of Health highlights the financial burden on individuals seeking health services and suggests exploring private sector opportunities and community-based approaches to improve access. “We need to balance values and rights while addressing access barriers,” he notes.
According to Dr. Olaro, the autonomy and agency of women in sexual and reproductive health, particularly in African cultures remain a challenge where social norms may require women to defer decisions to their partners.
Dr. Charles Olaro, a Senior Consultant Surgeon and the Director Health services – Curative in the Ministry of Health (MoH).
He notes that there is a high burden of abortion and self-harm, with a significant portion of maternal mortality attributed to sepsis, which is often a result of unsafe abortions in Uganda.
“We still need evidence to ensure that access barriers are addressed. And this is a question I keep on asking Makerere University, yes, we have a young population but how are these people accessing contraceptives. Other issue we have to deal with is complex. I know we have to do a balance between values and rights, but we will be able to look at that when they gain the success to do it.”
Dr. Olaro points out that individuals often face a financial burden in health services, spending more on prescriptions than on the medications themselves. He suggests exploring private sector opportunities and a community-based approach to improve access to healthcare.
Makerere University on 11th November 2025 marked a significant milestone as the Health User Committee (Mak-HUC)—established by the Vice Chancellor in 2022 as part of his strategic mandate to strengthen and oversee the University’s health service delivery—formally handed over its three-year report. The event highlighted the committee’s achievements in guiding, monitoring, and improving Makerere University Health Services, presenting a record of progress that has reshaped confidence, strengthened systems, and expanded care for staff and students.
A Call for Integrated and Sustainable Health Services
The Vice Chancellor Prof. Barnabas Nawangwe emphasized the need for a more integrated, efficient, and sustainable approach to delivering health services for Makerere University staff and students. He noted that while the University does not receive supplies from the National Medical Stores system, its community remains entitled to quality care, urging renewed consideration of how essential services—such as drug access, surgical limits, and special medical cases—can be better supported. He highlighted the importance of practical costing models, especially for extending care to staff dependents, and called for flexibility in managing exceptional cases like complex surgeries or referrals abroad.
Prof. Barnabas Nawangwe.
The Vice Chancellor also underscored the urgent need to modernize the University Hospital, proposing that Makerere begin incrementally establishing a teaching hospital using existing facilities and leveraging expertise of highly qualified consultants the College of Health Sciences (CHS). He reiterated that government budget ceilings remain a major constraint, but encouraged the committee to develop a concept that could be presented to Council and later supported through strategic engagement with the Ministry of Finance, Planning and Economic Development. Throughout his remarks, he applauded the Mak-HUC for its work and reaffirmed that even with the creation of a professional hospital board, the committee must remain central in representing service users.
Aligning Health Services with Sustainable Insurance Models
Prof. Bruce Kirenga the Principal College of Health Sciences responded by clarifying the committee’s efforts to align Makerere’s health services with real insurance models, including cost projections for covering additional family members and encouraging voluntary staff contributions where necessary. He acknowledged the complexity of expanding service coverage—especially in cases of chronic illness or high-cost procedures—but emphasized the committee’s commitment to cautious, sustainable planning. He confirmed that the College is working closely with the Hospital to improve services, attract specialists, and integrate students into the health system, a model that naturally draws academic staff into clinical roles without imposing unrealistic obligations.
Prof. Bruce Kirenga.
Prof. Kirenga also noted the College’s ongoing assessments of facility needs, including dialysis, ICU expansion, and equipment placement, stressing that the ultimate goal is a unified, well-structured health network across the University. He welcomed the Vice Chancellor’s support for transforming existing facilities into a teaching hospital and pledged to refine proposals that reflect both current realities and long-term institutional needs.
Committee Chair Reflects on Three-Year Achievements
Dr. Allen Kabagyenyi, Chair of Mak-HUC, reflected on the three-year journey with gratitude and pride, noting that the committee not only fulfilled its terms of reference but exceeded expectations. She highlighted major gains made under the Vice Chancellor’s support, including transforming the University Hospital into a self-accounting unit—an intervention that unlocked smoother financial management and accelerated service delivery. Dr. Kabagyenyi commended the strong collaboration with the Hospital administration, Human Resources Directorate, and other units, which ensured staffing stability even during institutional transitions.
Dr. Allen Kabagenyi.
She pointed to the expansion of referral partnerships—now totaling 29 health facilities nationwide—as a crucial achievement that guarantees continuity of care for staff and students wherever they are. She also emphasized the committee’s work in guiding policies for specialized treatment and cross-border care, strengthening fraud-prevention systems, and advancing digital transformation through an integrated health information system and the new Makerere University Health Services (MakHS) website. Dr. Kabagyenyi noted that these improvements have directly benefited staff and enhanced the overall quality of care, supported by close collaboration with the College of Health Sciences and access to some of the country’s best consultants. She concluded by underscoring the ongoing need for a comprehensive University Health Policy and expressed deep appreciation to the Vice Chancellor and University Management for their unwavering openness and support—attributes she credited for the committee’s success.
Highlights of Service Growth and Infrastructure Upgrades
The Chief, Makerere University Health Services, Prof. Josaphat Byamugisha, highlighted the significant progress achieved under the Health User Committee’s oversight, noting especially the steady rise in service utilization and renewed confidence among staff and students. He emphasized that trust in the University Hospital has grown organically—built not through advertising, but through improved patient experience, stronger systems, and word of mouth.
Prof. Josaphat Byamugisha.
Prof. Byamugisha pointed to major achievements such as expanded Out-Patient Department (OPD) attendance, better student access to care, enhanced infrastructure including modernized theatres capable of complex procedures, and upgraded laboratories supported through framework agreements that ensure continuous equipment renewal. He noted that specialized clinics, increased inpatient capacity, and expanded referral networks have strengthened the Hospital’s reach and responsiveness. The Hospital is also taking on more research work and clinical training, partnering with units such as optometry, internal medicine, and the Clinical Trials Unit, with new collaborations—like the MasterCard Foundation—driving further growth.
He reaffirmed that the long-term vision of establishing a fully-fledged Makerere University Teaching Hospital is taking shape through coordinated efforts with the College of Health Sciences. Prof. Byamugisha credited the Vice Chancellor’s support for enabling these strides and expressed deep appreciation to all stakeholders contributing to the continued improvement of health services for the entire University community.
Prof. Barnabas Nawangwe (4th Left) and Dr. Allen Kabagenyi (4th Right) pose for a group photo with Mak-HUC Members and officials at the Main Building Entrance.
DICTS Unveils Modular Information System & Health Services Website
The Directorate for ICT Support (DICTS) presented the newly developed Makerere University Integrated Health Management Information System (MakIHMIS), designed around a modular system that streamlines all hospital processes. The platform integrates eight functional modules, including registration, triage, clinician workflows, inventory and medicines management, pharmacy dispensing, laboratory information management, user management, and linkages to both the Academic and Human Resource Management Information Systems ACMIS and e-HRMS respetively. Most of these modules are already active, enabling smooth patient registration, accurate record-keeping, real-time inventory tracking, and seamless access to student and staff data without duplication. Only two modules—land and insurance—remain under development before the system becomes fully end-to-end. The MakHS website on the other hand features information about hospital services, events, research activities, and staff profiles, offering both the university community and the public a centralized and efficient digital gateway to the hospital’s operations.
Prof. Barnabas Nawangwe (4th Left) flanked by Left to Right: Prof. Josaphat Byamugisha, Mr. Juma Katongole, Mr. Victor Watasa, Dr. Allen Kabagenyi, Mr. Samuel Mugabi and Prof. Bruce Kirenga launches the MakIHMIS.
The term of the outgoing committee has officially concluded, and preparations are now underway for the incoming committee to assume its duties and continue advancing the work ahead.
The Ministry of Health and Makerere University in Uganda co-organised the National Annual Communicable and Non-Communicable Diseases (NACNDC) and 19th Joint Scientific Health (JASH) Conference 2025 under the theme: “Unified Action Against Communicable and Non-Communicable Diseases in Uganda“. The conference brought together stakeholders from government ministries and departments, local governments, academia, civil society, the private sector, development partners, professional associations, and communities who deliberated on the important role of coordinated action in addressing Uganda’s growing burden of infectious and non-infectious diseases in an evolving local and global health landscape.
Discussions reaffirmed the need for strengthened multisectoral collaboration and One Health approach that engages all government sectors and clearly defines the role of the private sector. Participants emphasized the importance of an integrated, people-centred model of disease prevention and care model, along with the need to enhance data systems, research, and policy translation. The conference also underscored the urgency of increasing domestic financing and adopting innovative financing mechanisms that broadly support the health system’s capacity to tackle the dual disease burden.
The conference proceedings feature selected abstracts presented during the conference, showcasing a wide range of research, innovations, programmatic solutions and field experiences. The conference offered a unique platform that demonstrated how academia, programme implementers, and policymakers can collaborate to generate and apply evidence for improved health outcomes. The findings shared at the conference and captured in the proceedings will inform national policies and strengthen efforts to prevent and control communicable and non-communicable diseases in Uganda.
Two new studies by researchers at Makerere University School of Public Health (MakSPH) reveal a troubling pattern at the centre of Uganda’s escalating antimicrobial resistance (AMR) crisis, a public health challenge where disease-causing bacteria and other germs stop responding to known medicines meant to kill them, making common infections harder or more expensive to treat.
The studies, conducted in Wakiso and neighbouring districts and recently published in leading scientific journals, examined key drivers of AMR from distinct yet connected perspectives. Together, they expose a health system under strain; shaped by poor-quality medicines circulating in communities, high and often inappropriate antibiotic use in healthcare facilities, and limited public awareness of safe medicine use, conditions now reinforcing one another and accelerating drug resistance.
At the centre, Assoc. Prof. David Musoke, one of the lead researchers on the two studies, and Ms. Bonny Natukunda (Senior Health Educator, Wakiso District) pose with community health workers, district health officials, and facilitators after an AMR workshop in Bukondo, Namayumba Sub-County, on September 22, 2025. Delivered under the NTU–Mak Partnership with Buckinghamshire Healthcare NHS Trust, the week-long workshop trained more than 380 community health workers from Namayumba Sub-County.
According to the Ministry of Health, AMR in Uganda has reached concerning levels. By March 2025, resistant infections were estimated to kill 37,800 people annually, with over 7,000 deaths directly caused by AMR and more than 30,000 linked to infections no longer responding to available treatment. This surge is driven by unrestricted access to antibiotics, weak drug-regulatory enforcement, and widespread misuse of antimicrobials in humans and animals.
The Ministry acknowledges that many patients are treated without diagnostic testing, while low public awareness and weak stewardship across human and veterinary health services continue to fuel microbial resistance. As a result, bacteria that once responded to routine antibiotics now show resistance rates of up to 80 per cent in some cases, undermining treatment outcomes, food safety, and household incomes. It is this challenge that informed the two MakSPH studies.
Part of the study team, led by Assoc. Prof. David Musoke (extreme left), at the recent 10th National AMR Conference in Kampala on November 19, 2025, organised by the Ministry of Health, where they presented evidence from the two studies in Wakiso generated through the NTU–Mak Partnership.
Two Studies, One Warning
Evidence from both studies points to the need for coordinated action to strengthen medicine quality, improve prescribing practices, and build community awareness to preserve the effectiveness of essential treatments. In the first paper, published on October 6, 2025, in the Journal of Pharmaceutical Policy and Practice, researchers led by Associate Professor David Musoke examined how consumers encounter and respond to substandard and falsified medicines for both human and animal use.
Conducted in 2024, the study surveyed 432 community members in Wakiso District, where the Nottingham Trent University – Makerere University(NTU–Mak) Partnership, initiated by NTU’s Prof. Linda Gibson and MakSPH’s Assoc. Prof. Musoke, has implemented community-based health systems programmes for 15 years now. Using a structured household questionnaire, the team assessed knowledge, attitudes, and everyday practices related to medicine use.
NTU’s Prof. Linda Gibson and MakSPH’s Assoc. Prof. David Musoke at the British Academy Equitable Partnerships Workshop on November 20, 2025, reflecting on 15 years of the successful NTU–Mak partnership.
The second study, published on November 21 in the Dovepress Journal of Infection and Drug Resistance, was led by Dr. Bush Herbert Aguma, a pharmacist, health-systems researcher, and Lecturer in the Department of Pharmacy at Makerere University. Working with Assoc. Prof. Musoke and colleagues, the team applied the standardised Global Point Prevalence Survey (GPPS) to examine antibiotic prescribing across three hospitals and five lower-level health centres in Wakiso, Nakaseke, and Butambala. The survey assessed patient demographics, antimicrobial therapy details, and adherence to treatment guidelines to identify gaps requiring improvement.
The surveys were conducted at Entebbe Regional Referral Hospital, Gombe General Hospital, Nakaseke General Hospital, and five lower-level facilities in Wakiso, all part of the Commonwealth Partnerships for Antimicrobial Stewardship (CwPAMS) project at MakSPH implemented through the NTU–Mak Partnership. Alongside the surveys, the partnership has strengthened antimicrobial stewardship in these eight facilities through routine staff training, mentorship, community engagement, and capacity-building in infection prevention and control, microbiology, and detection of substandard and falsified medicines.
“The work was to empower the facility through its Medicines and Therapeutics Committee, which has a sub-committee on antimicrobial stewardship. That committee oversees the process, ensures future surveys are conducted, and can initiate targeted assessments when problems with specific prescriptions arise,” Dr. Herbert Bush Aguma, lead author of the second study, explained.
Dr. Herbert Bush Aguma, explaining the study’s results and impact from his office on December 8, 2025, noted that it has enabled the health facilities to independently track antimicrobial use, identify prescribing gaps, and strengthen stewardship practices.
He added that the programme in the selected facilities for the study went beyond just measuring antimicrobial use, to supporting the facilities develop stewardship plans, strengthening laboratory capacity, and training health workers across human, animal and environmental sectors under a One Health approach. As a result, he stated, facilities can now independently conduct point prevalence surveys, identify prescribing gaps such as inappropriate ceftriaxone use, and advocate for improved diagnostics, while hospitals, Village Health Teams (VHTs), veterinary and environmental officers increasingly address AMR drivers within their settings, leading to significant and lasting impact.
Over the last 15 years, the NTU–Mak Partnership, as part of this work, has trained more than 600 health workers across the human, animal, and environmental sectors in Wakiso, Nakaseke, and Butambala, and equipped over 1,300 community health workers (VHTs) in Wakiso with practical AMR knowledge. University-led programmes, international student competitions, and a 900-member online Community of Practice have further extended its reach. Together, these initiatives demonstrate how sustained community engagement can translate national AMR priorities into real-world impact, offering a model for locally anchored AMR interventions while also supporting the generation of new evidence to strengthen health systems, including the current two studies.
Right: MakSPH student Bridget Ahumuza celebrates a commendation as the 2025 Antibiotic Guardian Health Student of the Year, awarded through the NTU–Mak Partnership for her AMR stewardship advocacy.
What Communities Know, and Don’t Know, About Fake Medicines
In the first study, Assoc. Prof. Musoke and colleagues found that while 83 per cent of respondents had heard of substandard and falsified medicines, only 31 per cent could correctly define the terms, and just seven per cent could accurately identify a falsified product. According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), a global health watchdog, substandard and falsified medicines fail to meet quality standards or deliberately mimic genuine products, often containing the wrong, too little, or no active ingredients. Such medicines put patients at risk of treatment failure, toxicity, and death and accelerate antimicrobial resistance by exposing bacteria to ineffective drug levels.
In Wakiso, the most populous district in Uganda with over 3.3 million people, although over 95 per cent of respondents recognised substandard and falsified medicines as dangerous, many reported having purchased drugs they suspected to be fake: 14 per cent for human and 24 per cent for animal use. To check authenticity, residents relied on advice from health workers or veterinary officers and on buying from trusted outlets. Yet reporting remained extremely low, as only one in four informed a health worker when they suspected a problem, and still, just four per cent had ever reported a case to the National Drug Authority (NDA), mandated to regulate drugs in Uganda.
These patterns reveal a community that recognises the threat of poor-quality medicines but lacks the agency to act. As the study notes, “community members from a range of backgrounds had limited knowledge and poor practices despite commendable attitudes on substandard and falsified medicines… Many respondents reported never having purchased and used substandard and falsified medicines knowingly or unknowingly, although a good number suspected that a medicine they previously purchased had been substandard or falsified.”
Over 50 health managers from 51 healthcare facilities in Wakiso District received certificates at the end of a two-day leadership development training on November 26, 2025, delivered through the NTU–Mak Partnership and Nottingham University Hospitals NHS Trust (NUH) in collaboration with the Wakiso District Local Government and the Ministry of Health. The workshop strengthened leadership capacity across the district health system.
In the second study on antibiotic prescribing, the researchers found high rates of antibiotic use across all eight public facilities. In the three hospitals, 87.2 per cent of inpatients were receiving at least one antibiotic, with ceftriaxone alone, the most commonly prescribed antibiotic in other studies, accounting for nearly one-third of all prescriptions. Most antibiotics were administered prophylactically, especially for obstetric and gynaecological surgeries, which made up 30.7 per cent of all hospital antibiotic use. In lower-level facilities, 60.7 per cent of outpatients received antibiotics, with amoxicillin accounting for 39.1 per cent of all prescriptions. Upper respiratory tract infections, many of them viral, were the leading reason for outpatient antibiotic use.
“Resistance to first-line antimicrobials increases the risk of morbidity and mortality. Unfortunately, the global rise in AMR has not been matched by the development of new antibiotics effective against resistant bacteria,” reads the paper in part. “As a result, healthcare costs are expected to rise, economic productivity will fall due to reduced workforce activity, and global life expectancy could drop by an estimated 1.8 years. This existential threat must be averted to avoid a post-antibiotic era in which even minor infections become fatal.”
In the study on antibiotic prescribing, the researchers found high rates of antibiotic use across all eight public health facilities, with ceftriaxone as the most commonly prescribed antibiotic.
Read together, the two studies provide a ground-level view of how AMR takes root long before a patient reaches a hospital or pharmacy. Poor-quality medicines remain widespread yet poorly understood, while health workers operate under heavy workloads, limited diagnostics, and outdated guidelines that make empirical treatment with antibiotics the default option.
These realities echo the warning delivered by Assoc. Prof. David Musoke, during his keynote address at the 10th National AMR Conference in Kampala on November 19, 2025. Speaking at the event organised by the National One Health Platform, institutionalised in 2016 under the Ministry of Health to coordinate AMR efforts, and held to mark World AMR Awareness Week 2025 under the theme Act Now: Protect Our Present, Secure Our Future, he cautioned that Uganda’s fight against AMR will falter unless communities are placed at the centre of national action.
“One in six bacterial infections globally, and one in five in Africa, are now resistant to available antibiotics,” Dr. Musoke said, citing the latest Global Antimicrobial Resistance and Use Surveillance System (GLASS) Report 2025. “If Uganda is to make real progress, communities must be treated not as recipients of information but as genuine partners in the fight against AMR.”
Assoc. Prof. David Musoke delivers the keynote address at the 10th National AMR Conference in Kampala on November 19, 2025, warning that Uganda’s fight against AMR will stall unless communities are placed at the centre of national action.
What Must Change: Recommendations from the Researchers
To strengthen antimicrobial stewardship, the study on antibiotic prescribing recommends scaling up diagnostic capacity in public facilities so that treatment decisions are based on laboratory evidence rather than broad empirical prescribing, a medical term that means treatment initiated based on a clinician’s “educated guess” and clinical experience, in the absence of a definitive diagnosis or complete information about the specific cause of a disorder. Expanding functional microbiology services, the study says, would reduce reliance on broad-spectrum antibiotics, which accelerates resistance.
The authors also call for strict enforcement of national treatment guidelines, especially in surgical wards where antibiotics are routinely continued longer than clinically required. For them, reducing unnecessary prophylaxis, particularly in obstetric and gynaecological surgery, would go a long way in limiting misuse without compromising patient safety.
They further urge the Ministry of Health to eliminate non-recommended antibiotic combinations from routine use and ensure consistent stock management to prevent missed doses. This, in addition to strengthening Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene (WASH), and Infection-Prevention and Control (IPC) systems, combined with regular stewardship-focused training for prescribers, is highlighted as essential for improving prescribing standards. Finally, they recommend institutionalising routine point prevalence surveys in Uganda to track trends, guide facility-level action, and reinforce accountability for stewardship.
Makerere University students demonstrate proper hand hygiene while engaging residents in an AMR and hygiene awareness outreach in Kamwokya’s informal settlements on April 11, 2025.
On the other hand, to address the widespread circulation of substandard and falsified medicines, the study team call for a nationwide effort to improve public literacy on how to recognise, verify, and report suspicious medical products. The authors also argue that current reporting pathways are largely invisible, leaving most community members unsure of how or where to lodge complaints. Strengthening the National Drug Authority’s visibility and making its reporting mechanisms simple and accessible, in that case, is identified as a critical first step.
They also highlight the need to engage frontline actors, and this includes Village Health Teams, Community Health Extension Workers, veterinary officers, and local leaders, as primary change agents. These trusted community structures, the authors assert, are well-positioned to translate regulatory messages into actionable information than mass-media campaigns alone.
Given the extensive use of suspected counterfeit veterinary medicines, the authors call for strengthened One Health education and a fully integrated communication approach linking human, animal, and plant health risks. They recommend sustained messaging through radio and other local media, supported by community-driven monitoring systems able to empower consumers to act as partners in protecting the medicine supply chain.
Mr. Mathias Sserwanga (extreme right) of Namulonge HCIII in Wakiso district receiving his certificate from Assoc. Prof. David Musoke (2nd right), following a two-day leadership and management training on November 26, 2025, at Makerere University. The programme by MakSPH and partners has helped enhance the capacity of facility in-charges in Wakiso District to improve health service delivery to the people.
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