Between Tuesday, February 24 and Friday, February 27, 2026, Freedom Square at Makerere University will fill with a familiar choreography of anticipation. The air will fill with the rustle of academic gowns, the nervous laughter of graduands, and the careful positioning of proud families searching for familiar faces in a sea of crimson, green, and black. It is a moment of ceremony, yes, but also of reckoning.
Up close, the doctoral gowns feel heavier than they look. The deep crimson fabric, warm and deliberate, settles on the shoulders. Green panels edged in gold are gently pressed against the chest. Wide sleeves gently brush against clasped hands, soft bonnets rest low on foreheads, and tassels remain motionless. Beneath the regalia are steady breaths, quickened heartbeats, and bodies carrying the quiet fatigue of years spent balancing work, study, and life. These are garments worn not only for display but also for endurance, stitched to nights without sleep, to questions carried long before they were answered.
At this four-day Makerere University’s 76th Graduation Ceremony, 185 doctoral degrees will be conferred. Each PhD will represent years of unanswered questions, interrupted sleep, financial strain, and relentless intellectual persistence. Among them will be Dr. Samalie Namukose, a woman whose academic journey was never separate from the health system she serves, only threaded through it.
For more than two decades, Samalie Namukose has worked inside Uganda’s Ministry of Health, rising steadily from Nutritionist to Assistant Commissioner for Health Services/Nutrition. She has helped write policy, coordinate national programs, supervise districts, respond to emergencies, and advocate for mothers and infants whose voices rarely travel beyond clinic walls. Her PhD did not pull her away from that world but plunged her deeper into it.
Dr. Namukose (R) with health workers in one of the facilities.
The Question That Would Not Let Go
Dr. Namukose’s doctoral journey began not in a library, but in a pattern she kept seeing and could no longer ignore.
Uganda’s nutrition policies are robust. They speak clearly about the importance of maternal and infant nutrition, especially in the first 1,000 days of life. Yet in health facilities across the country, nutrition services often appeared fragmented, present in principle, and inconsistent in practice. Mothers attending antenatal or postnatal care were weighed, yes, but not always counselled. Infants were measured, but follow-up was irregular. Nutrition existed, but it was not always integrated.
“I kept asking myself,” she recalls, “not whether nutrition interventions exist, but how well they are embedded in routine care, and what prevents health workers from delivering them consistently.”
At its core, NACS integration is deceptively simple: assess nutritional status at every health point, provide tailored counseling, and link clients to support within the same system and beyond. But in practice, it tests the very backbone of health systems: workforce capacity, financing, governance, supervision, and community linkages.
“When NACS is well integrated, health facilities can identify nutrition risks early, prevent deterioration, and provide timely support rather than responding only when malnutrition becomes severe,” she says.
Inside Resource-Constrained Health Facilities
What Dr. Namukose found was not a clear story of failure or success, but something in between. Many health facilities were offering basic nutrition education and assessments, and health workers were clearly trying their best. However, long patient queues, limited time, and a shortage of basic tools and job aids often hindered counseling and follow-up. Food demonstrations were rare. Growth monitoring was inconsistent. Efforts to improve quality occurred only sporadically.
In facilities without trained nutritionists, nurses, and midwives, already stretched thin, took on nutrition work alongside many other duties, leaving little room to support mothers and children in a steady, continuous way.
And yet, her findings revealed something deeply hopeful: “facilities with knowledgeable, motivated, and supported health workers delivered better nutrition services, even within the same constraints.” To Dr. Namukose, this showed that leadership, mentorship, and attitude mattered. Where nutrition was treated not as an extra task but as essential care, outcomes began to improve.
One of the strongest findings from Dr. Namukose’s research was that even when nutrition services were only partly integrated, they still made a visible difference. Mothers gained weight more steadily during pregnancy and in the early months of breastfeeding. Babies were born heavier and grew better in their first months of life. Across health facilities with more fully integrated nutrition services, children consistently showed healthier growth patterns.
These were not just numbers on a page; babies started life stronger, and mothers were better supported to care for them.
“To me,” she explains, “the improvements in maternal weight gain reflected the value of regular assessment and context-specific counseling. For infants, the better growth outcomes showed that a package of nutrition interventions, delivered consistently, can make a real difference during the most critical window of life.”
It was clear evidence that nutrition integration works effectively, though gradually and significantly.
The Fragility of Progress
Dr. Namukose’s research also exposed how fragile these gains remain. Weaknesses in financing and governance emerged as the greatest threats to sustainability. Nutrition services often depended on unpredictable partner funding rather than routine government budgets. Essential supplies, anthropometric tools, job aids, and therapeutic foods were frequently unavailable or externally dependent.
Her study captured glaring governance gaps that compounded the problem. For instance, nutrition was not always clearly positioned within accountability structures, and this, according to Dr. Namukose, often led to limited supervision and weak performance monitoring. Many districts lacked dedicated nutritionists altogether.
She notes that community follow-up was essential for sustaining behaviour change after clinic visits, especially for those who suffered most. Village Health Teams and care groups struggled without supervision, feedback mechanisms, or resources.
“Most nutrition-related behaviours, such as maternal diet, infant and young child feeding, and care practices, are shaped and sustained within households and communities,” says Dr. Namukose.
She contends that nutrition integration cannot rely on projects but must be embedded in systems.
A PhD Written in the Margins of Life
Conducting this research while holding a senior national leadership role in the Ministry of Health was, by her own admission, one of the hardest things she has ever done.
Dr. Namukose did not request study leave. Partly self-sponsored, she worked full days at the Ministry of Health, then wrote at night, often between midnight and 4:00 am, and again in the early mornings, on Saturdays, and on borrowed hours of Sunday.
“There were days when I sacrificed sleep completely,” she says quietly.
National emergencies such as COVID-19, Ebola, and MPOX repeatedly interrupted her doctoral journey, drawing her back into crisis response. To her, returning to her PhD after each interruption felt like re-entering a conversation mid-sentence, struggling to find the thread.
At one point, she simultaneously prepared for a Top Management Committee presentation, attended a doctoral committee meeting, and sat for Health Service Commission promotional interviews.
“The pressure from the supervisors kept me on my toes. The PhD forum was another motivating factor, consistently sharing updates, books, courses, encouragement, and invitations to PhD defenses. Peer support was tremendous. Without a supportive family, you can’t make it,” she remarks.
A Career That Prepared the Ground
Dr. Namukose’s PhD sits atop a formidable professional foundation. She holds Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in Agriculture from Makerere University, a Postgraduate Diploma in Food and Nutrition Security from Wageningen University in the Netherlands, and a Postgraduate Diploma in Business Administration from Makerere University Business School. She has undergone extensive training in nutrition leadership, research methods, health systems, and quality improvement across Africa, Europe, and Asia.
Within the Ministry of Health, she has served as a Public Health Nutritionist, Senior Nutritionist, Principal Nutritionist, and now Assistant Commissioner, coordinating national nutrition interventions, designing training modules, mobilising resources, and overseeing district implementation.
She has played key roles in multi-million-dollar initiatives, from HIV-Free Survival programmes to Integrated Child Health Days, public food procurement policy, and the scale-up of Multiple Micronutrient Supplements (MMS) for pregnant women.
Her research has been published in leading peer-reviewed journals, including PLOS ONE and BMC Health, Population and Nutrition, ensuring that her findings speak both to policy and global evidence.
On a mission to keep research from gathering dust
Now a Doctor of Philosophy, Dr. Namukose has determined that her work will not sit quietly on a shelf. Her findings have already informed Uganda’s Health Sector Nutrition Strategic Plan, strengthening the case for financing, governance reform, and recruitment of skilled nutrition cadres. She continues to champion platforms, such as national nutrition symposia, that bring student research into policy dialogue and implementation spaces.
“Very often, excellent student research is left on the shelves. I plan to allocate some days during these symposia to nutrition students to showcase best practices and innovations,” she says.
Adding that, “I urge mothers and their infants to actively engage in self-care, growth-promotion, and monitoring activities to improve their own health and that of their children.”
Central to her recommendations is a call to embed nutrition services within routine health and community systems, with sustained government leadership, financing, and competent human resources.
Integration, she insists, is not achieved by guidelines alone, but through continuous engagement with frontline health workers and communities.
As graduation day approaches, Dr. Namukose’s thoughts turn outward. To frontline health workers delivering nutrition services under pressure, her message is one of respect and reassurance. Even with limited resources, the assessments they conduct, the counselling they provide, and the care they offer can change outcomes.
“Endeavor to participate in training programmes whenever available to bridge gaps in nutrition knowledge and skills, including on-the-job and rotational training to support cost-effective and efficient nutrition service delivery,” she asks.
To mothers and caregivers, she urges active engagement in self-care, growth monitoring, and nutrition programmes, especially those strengthened through digital innovation.
And to policymakers, her research offers both evidence and urgency that nutrition integration is no longer optional but foundational to maternal and child health.
Dr. Namukose (c) flanked by her supervisors, Associate Professor Suzanne Kiwanuka (L) and Dr. Wamuyu Gakenia Maina, in a cake-cutting ceremony shortly after her PhD defense on October 15, 2025.
When Dr. Samalie Namukose walks across the stage at Freedom Square, followed by applause, the true weight of that moment lies in health facilities where nutrition is no longer an afterthought. In mothers whose pregnancies are better supported. In infants whose growth curves bend upward, quietly, decisively.
Among the 185 PhDs conferred at Makerere University’s 76th graduation, the School of Public Health Communications Office shares her story, which is a reminder that the most transformative scholarship is not always loud. It builds patiently, between policy meetings and midnight writing, between emergencies and examiners’ comments, until it transforms systems and lives from within.
Makerere University School of Public Health, in collaboration with Jhpiego, invites applications for 49 short-term positions under the Scaling the Optimal Use of Multiple ACTs to Prevent Antimalarial Drug Resistance (STOP-AMDR) Project.
The short-term assignments will support data collection in Buikwe and Busia districts, with some national-level activities. Applicants are encouraged to review the requirements for their preferred position before applying.
Makerere University School of Public Health (MakSPH), through the Africa-Europe Cluster of Research Excellence (CoRE) for Preparedness and Response to Pandemics and Shocks, has shared findings from its study of Uganda’s Mpox response with stakeholders in Kasese, Amuru, Nakasongola and Mayuge districts to strengthen district preparedness for future outbreaks.
The Africa-Europe CoRE is a partnership co-led by MakSPH and the Centre for Research on the Epidemiology of Disasters at UCLouvain, Belgium. It brings together universities in Africa and Europe to strengthen research, training and preparedness for pandemics and other public health shocks.
The district-level dissemination meetings, held from 10 to 14 August 2026, brought together more than 100 local government, health and security officials, Village Health Teams, implementing partners and community representatives. The meetings enabled stakeholders to validate the district-level findings, identify practical actions and provide feedback for the study’s final analysis and national dissemination.
Mr. Philliam Jabim shares the Mpox response study findings with participants during the dissemination meeting in Nakasongola District on 12 August 2026.
Uganda confirmed its first two Mpox cases on 24 July 2024 at Bwera Hospital in Kasese District. The Ministry of Health declared an outbreak on 2 August 2024. As documented in the study, the response involved health workers, communities, local governments, security agencies, political leaders, and implementing partners.
In response to the outbreak, a MakSPH research team led by Prof. Rhoda Wanyenze, Dr. Rawlance Ndejjo, Dr. Steven Kabwama and Mr. Douglas Bulafu conducted a study in May 2025 to assess Uganda’s Mpox response, including its policies, interventions, strategies and challenges, and generate lessons to inform recovery and strengthen preparedness for future public health emergencies.
Using purposive sampling, the research team conducted 20 key informant interviews and five focus group discussions in each of the four districts, drawing perspectives from western Uganda in Kasese, northern Uganda in Amuru, central Uganda in Nakasongola and eastern Uganda in Mayuge.
Participants and the MakSPH research team at the Mpox response study dissemination meeting in Nakasongola District on 12 August 2026.
The study, titled Assessment of the Mpox Response in Uganda: Documenting Challenges, Lessons and Innovations to Strengthen Emergency Preparedness and Response Capacities, was funded by the Government of Uganda through the Makerere UniversityResearch and Innovation Fund (Mak-RIF).
“This study is helping us move beyond recounting the Mpox response to identifying the actions that districts and national partners can take before the next outbreak. By validating the findings with stakeholders who led and experienced the response, we are ensuring that the evidence reflects local realities and can inform stronger surveillance, risk communication, coordination and community engagement,” said Mr. Bulafu, who led the MakSPH team during the dissemination meeting in Amuru.
Mr. Douglas Bulafu engages participants during the Mpox response study dissemination meeting in Amuru District on 10 August 2026.
In Amuru, the 10 August meeting brought together over 25 stakeholders from the district health team, political leadership, security agencies, Village Health Teams, implementing partners and the community. On the same day, a second MakSPH team, led by Mr. Keneth Sebukeera and Mr. Filimin Niyongabo, convened stakeholders in Kasese for a parallel validation meeting. The consultations then continued in Nakasongola on 12 August and concluded in Mayuge on 14 August, extending the study’s engagement across all four districts.
Across the districts, stakeholders said the results reflected their experience during the outbreak. They pointed to strengths in leadership, coordination, community engagement and partner support, while also describing gaps in documentation, logistics, diagnostic access, staffing, risk communication, public trust and continuity of essential health services.
They also noted inconsistent implementation of the World Health Organization (WHO) 7-1-7 target, which calls for detecting a suspected outbreak within seven days, notifying public health authorities within one day and completing early response actions within seven days.
The MakSPH research team, led by Mr. Keneth Sebukeera and Mr. Filimin Niyongabo, with participants during the Mpox response study dissemination meeting in Kasese District on 10 August 2026.
In Kasese, stakeholders highlighted gaps in documentation, financial and logistical resources, and human resources. They identified Village Health Teams and grassroots, religious and cultural leaders as important resources for community surveillance and risk communication. They called for stronger collaboration between technical and non-technical leaders, engagement with traditional healers, greater use of local radio for public sensitisation, and better facilitation of district epidemic response teams to reach distant communities.
Amuru participants called for proactive preparedness in the border district, citing misinformation and rumours as barriers to risk communication. They urged timely, accurate information from health workers and other authorities; training in disease surveillance and grant writing to strengthen capacity and resource mobilisation; and compassionate care, psychosocial support and community awareness to reduce stigma and support survivor reintegration.
During the meeting in Nakasongola, stakeholders identified Community Health Workers and Community Health Extension Workers as potential resources for strengthening community surveillance and addressing workforce shortages. Given the district’s position around Lake Kyoga and along the Kampala-South Sudan transit corridor, they also called for stronger documentation, note-taking and reporting, accurate real-time information, closer communication with the Ministry of Health, and collaboration among technical, political, religious and community leaders.
Ms. Eunice Vivian Asingo, Senior Nursing Officer at Nakasongola Health Centre IV, contributes to the discussion during the Mpox response study dissemination meeting in Nakasongola District on 12 August 2026.
Ms. Eunice Vivian Asingo, Senior Nursing Officer at Nakasongola Health Centre IV, called for a permanent, adequately resourced outbreak-management centre to help protect routine services during future epidemics. “We appeal for better facilities to manage epidemics and outbreaks. At Nakasongola Health Centre IV, spaces previously used for outbreak management have been repurposed for other services, and we have limited staff. During the Mpox response, colleagues assigned to manage patients later returned to the general team, creating fear among staff already under pressure,” she said.
In Mayuge, Dr. Basembeza highlighted leadership, coordination and surveillance structures operating from district to community level as important factors in the response. He said the structures enabled the district to receive and respond quickly to community alerts. “Whenever there is a rumour or an alert, we are able to respond. Within 20 minutes, we had a response because of the structure we have,” Dr. Basembeza said.
Based on the findings, the research team recommends increased preparedness financing, stronger community engagement, decentralised diagnostic services through stronger district laboratory capacity, and improved health information and research systems.
Across the four districts, stakeholders reaffirmed that trusted community structures and coordinated action across sectors are essential to strengthening outbreak preparedness.
Every academic year, a new group of students enters Makerere University School of Public Health (MakSPH) with different professional backgrounds, questions and ambitions. For the School, each cohort adds to a growing community of professionals and researchers shaping public health practice, policy and research in Uganda and beyond.
On Friday, 7 August 2026, MakSPH held its orientation for newly admitted students for the 2026/2027 academic year at the MakSPH Auditorium. The orientation introduced students to the School’s academic programmes, leadership, departments, academic administration, student support services and expectations for university life.
For this academic year, ending July 2027, Makerere University admitted more than 370 students to academic programmes hosted at MakSPH. The intake comprised 75 students in the Bachelor of Environmental Health Science, the School’s only bachelor’s programme, 277 across the nine master’s programmes, and 21 across the two doctoral programmes, PhD by Research and PhD by Coursework and Research.
Dean Prof. Rhoda Wanyenze (centre) with MakSPH staff, student leaders and new students during orientation for the 2026/2027 academic year.
The master’s intake includes 103 students in the Master of Public Health by Distance Education, the highest enrolment for the year, followed by 59 in the Master of Public Health Full-Time. The remaining students joined programmes in Biostatistics, Environmental and Occupational Health, Health Informatics, Health Services Research, Monitoring and Evaluation, Nutrition, and Public Health Disaster Management. Together, the programmes reflect the breadth of knowledge and skills needed to address public health challenges and bring together students pursuing further training from diverse professional backgrounds.
Welcoming the new cohort, MakSPH Dean Prof. Rhoda Wanyenze urged students to approach their studies with purpose, discipline, and resilience, and focus on what they would be able to do with the knowledge and skills they acquire.
“Please find time to enjoy your journey. I know you’re looking ahead to exams and so many other pressures, but let this journey also be one that you enjoy in terms of what you learn and how you grow, so that you leave here better, not because of the paper that you took but because of the capability that you pick up during your time with us.”
MakSPH Dean Prof. Rhoda Wanyenze addresses new students at orientation for the 2026/2027 academic year, 7 August 2026, MakSPH Auditorium, urging them to value capability over paper.
The Dean’s message speaks to the different reasons students are beginning their journeys at MakSPH. For some, the opportunity is to build on professional experience and strengthen their capacity in roles they already hold. Among them is Dr. Judith Nalukwago, a dental surgeon, former 85th Vice Guild President of Makerere University, and Makindye Division III Lord Councillor, who serves as Executive Secretary for Education, Gender and Public Health at City Hall and the Office of the Lord Mayor.
“I am back here to study a Master’s in Public Health. I am very excited. I have a clinical background and have been practising as a clinician, and it has been a joyful experience. But when I joined the journey of leadership, there were challenges because, as Executive Secretary for Public Health in Kampala, we deal with everyday people’s health challenges,” said Dr. Nalukwago, adding:
“Now I am in management and leadership, and that posed a challenge to me as an individual. I asked myself, what course can I do to add to my skills? Where can I gain skills that can help me overcome this challenge while I am dealing with people? And I remembered that we have the School of Public Health at Makerere University.”
Watch: Dr. Judith Nalukwago on why she returned to MakSPH for a Master’s in Public Health:
Her experience during the Ebola response, when she served on the task force, further highlighted the need for broader public health knowledge. She said the training would strengthen her ability to contribute to policy and public health management, particularly in her role at City Hall, where councillors develop policies, bylaws, and ordinances.
For Mr. John Othieno, the motivation is similarly grounded in applying his training to practical problems. A Software Engineering graduate who previously completed a Master’s in Health Informatics at MakSPH, he has returned to pursue a PhD under the Department of Health Policy, Planning and Management. His research focuses on using technology and health informatics to address health-system challenges, including the adoption of picture archiving and communication systems for managing healthcare imaging and data. He said he wants his research to produce solutions that can be applied beyond academia.
“I purposed that, in my academic journey, I would not do research for the sake of having it gather dust on the shelves, but that it would actually be actionable research that can be translated into action, into solutions for our population,” he said.
Watch: Mr. John Othieno on why he returned to MakSPH to pursue a PhD in Public Health:
Nalukwago and Othieno reflect the diverse professional backgrounds that come together at MakSPH, where training, research, and community engagement have been central to the School’s work for over seven decades. Their journeys point to a sustained impact on public health education, seen not only in enrolment and graduate numbers but in the skills and expertise those graduates carry into policy, research, and health systems across Uganda and the region. At the close of the 2024/2025 academic year, MakSPH enrolled 1,140 students across 12 degree programmes, more than 90 percent of them in postgraduate training.
At Makerere University’s 76th Graduation Ceremony on 25 February 2026, MakSPH presented 231 graduates, comprising seven doctoral, 195 master’s and 29 bachelor’s graduates, adding to the health workforce within the region. Among the graduates was Dr. Harriet Aber, who completed her PhD on child substance use in Uganda’s health system and shared her experience with the new cohort during the orientation. She spoke candidly about the demands of postgraduate study and the need to remain positive through its challenges.
Dr. Harriet Aber, a MakSPH PhD graduate, shares her postgraduate journey with new students at orientation, 7 August 2026, MakSPH Auditorium, urging them to maintain a positive attitude through the challenges ahead.
“It’s not a rosy journey. You’re going to have so many moments where you celebrate, where you’re happy about something, but there are also several moments when maybe you’re stuck with the paper, you have to respond to comments, the proposal is not moving, the concept is not clear. Throughout all those processes, one of the things that you just have to maintain is having a positive attitude,” Aber affirmed.
Her experience offered the new cohort a glimpse of the journey ahead, while Prof. Wanyenze’s message focused on how they could make the most of it. The Dean urged students to plan ahead, pursue research opportunities, think independently, and use artificial intelligence responsibly, while seeking mentorship and making full use of the support and opportunities available at the School.
“Our students are our colleagues, and they are our future workmates. Many of them have ended up staying with us. And I know many of you are going to stay with us in the School,” the Dean said, urging students to take seriously the relationships they build with their classmates and faculty, because “we are a network that’s bound together in the same profession.”
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