The Ministry of Health and Makerere University in Uganda co-organised the National Annual Communicable and Non-Communicable Diseases (NACNDC) and 19^th 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.

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The Sub-Saharan African Network for TB/HIV Research Excellence (SANTHE) at Makerere University invites applications for a PhD and Masters of Science training opportunity. 

The PhD training is focused on HIV Cure whereas the Masters of science opportunity is for TB elimination. Refer to the adverts/flyers attached for further details. 

For inquiries or clarifications please call +256 787-278-393. 

Dear Readers

We welcome you to our first edition of the international academic mobility newsletter from Makerere University College of Health Sciences. In this edition, we share the highlights of various academic mobility programs at MakCHS, experiences of several students and staff who have been able to travel, study and experience new cultures and skills aimed at increasing their competitiveness in the Global market. We also share challenges and improvements to improve student and staff academic mobility experiences.

Internationalization of higher education is defined by the OECD (1999) as the integration of an international/intercultural dimension into all the activities of a university, including teaching, research and service functions. This is in line with the Makerere University vision 2030 to become a research-led university. This cross-border movement of faculty in higher education has been attracting scholarly attention for decades since knowledge is borderless (Shen et al., 2022). Therefore, internationalization increases global higher education and impacts the world university rankings, with a goal of increasing international recruitment of the best and brightest students and scholars. These international academic mobilities offered at MakCHS involve a broad range of activities like attending conferences, visiting research partners abroad and longer stays in other countries for research purposes.

MakCHS has many academic partners with long-standing bilateral relations and agreements that go beyond academic mobility and thus has overtime developed procedures and quality control mechanisms to support academic mobility. The coordination of these academic mobilities is handled at the International Coordination Office. The office is also responsible for the administration and making sure that students and faculty have a memorable experience. It is also responsible for monitoring and reporting tasks and managing the organizational support and coordination, incoming participants’ comprehensive insurance coverage, registrations, social activities and guided city tours for incomings etc.

We look forward to learning with you, celebrating progress, and charting our next steps—together, as we build for the future.

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View the newsletter using the link below:
ICO Newsletter 2025 Issue 1