At the centre, Henry Komakech stands next to his Opponent, Prof. Stella Neema, celebrating the successful defence of his doctoral thesis, alongside members of his examining team: External Examiner Dr. Stephen Langole, Internal Examiner Dr. Aloysius Ssennyonjo and Supervisors Prof. Christopher Garimoi Orach and Dr. Lynn M. Atuyambe, and Doctoral Committee member Dr. Juliet Kiguli. The defence meeting was chaired by Assoc. Prof. Christine Nalwadda, Head, Department of Community Health and Behavioural Sciences, on December 19, 2025.
On Friday, December 19, 2025, a doctoral defence at Makerere University School of Public Health (MakSPH) made visible how knowledge transcends across generations. Dr. Henry Komakech, who first trained at the School for his Master’s in Health Services Research (MHSR) between 2008 and 2010 and has served as a Research Associate in the Department of Community Health and Behavioural Sciences (CHBS) since 2014, defended his PhD titled Effects of the Repatriation of Refugees on the Health Services of the Host Populations in the West Nile Districts of Arua, Moyo, and Adjumani. The thesis examined what happens after refugees begin to return home and humanitarian partners withdraw, leaving district health systems to absorb the transition.
Just over two months later, on February 25, 2026, MakSPH took its place in the 76th Congregation of Makerere University at Freedom Square, presenting 231 graduands. The four-day ceremony, held from February 24 to 27, saw the University confer degrees and diplomas on 9,295 graduands across nine colleges and two schools, including 213 PhDs. Of the seven doctoral degrees presented by MakSPH, four came from the Department of Community Health and Behavioural Sciences, where Komakech’s work was supervised and examined. The defence in December had tested the scholarship; the congregation in February formally admitted it into the University’s record.
Henry Komakech is conferred upon the Doctor of Philosophy (Public Health) degree by Makerere University Chancellor Dr. Crispus Walter Kiyonga during the 76th Graduation Ceremony on February 25, 2026. His study examined how refugee repatriation reshapes health service delivery and system sustainability in host districts.
The scholarship itself engaged a structural public health question shaped by Uganda’s refugee experience. By mid-2025, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) estimated that 117.3 million people were forcibly displaced worldwide due to conflict, persecution, or violence. Of these, 42.5 million were refugees, 67.8 million internally displaced persons, and 8.4 million asylum seekers, with 87 per cent of refugees hosted in low- and middle-income countries, including Uganda.
The country today remains one of the key actors responding to this humanitarian crisis, hosting close to two million refugees and asylum seekers and implementing one of the world’s most progressive refugee policies, which integrates displaced populations into national systems of service delivery under the Refugees Act of 2006 and the Refugees Regulations of 2010.
UN Secretary-General António Guterres greets refugee families during a visit to Imvepi Refugee Settlement in Arua District, northern Uganda, in June 2017. The visit drew global attention to Uganda’s open-door refugee policy and the significant social, economic, and health-system pressures borne by host communities and national services in responding to large-scale displacement. UN Photo/Mark Garten.
According to UNHCR, refugee repatriation is the return of refugees to their country of origin, ideally voluntarily, safely, and with dignity when conditions allow. It is one of the most preferred and recognised durable solutions to displacement, alongside local integration in the host country and resettlement to a third country, and is typically organised through tripartite agreements between the country of origin, the host country, and the UN refugee agency.
Yet when repatriation occurs, and sometimes this happens rapidly, numbers in host areas decline, affecting financing, staffing, drug supply, infrastructure, and district planning. In this case, repatriation, as Komakech investigates it, is therefore not simply demographic change due to sudden withdrawal but a health systems transition with governance and fiscal consequences.
Henry Komakech discusses health system transitions in refugee-hosting districts after repatriation during his doctoral defence on December 19, 2025.
“This work emerged from observations I made during earlier studies in Northern Uganda, a region that has hosted large refugee populations for many years,” Komakech observed.
He added, “I noticed that the presence of refugees had varied effects on health services, affecting both refugee and host communities. Yet despite this reality, there was limited research examining how health systems function during periods of transition, particularly as refugee populations move in and out of host districts. This raised an important question: Do districts and aid agencies design health services in ways that can accommodate both incoming and outgoing refugee populations, and what does this mean for service delivery for everyone involved? That question ultimately shaped my study.”
Komakech holds that repatriation matters in humanitarian action and public health emergencies because it offers closure for displaced populations while allowing host countries to reorganise health and social systems as displacement pressures change.
The question that shaped his doctoral research did not emerge in isolation, though. It developed within a field built over decades by Prof. Christopher Garimoi Orach, Professor of Community Health at Makerere University and Komakech’s principal supervisor, an author of more than 100 peer-reviewed publications in high-impact journals whose work has anchored refugee health and public health in complex emergencies within Uganda’s academic and policy landscape while also contributing to global scholarship in the field.
If Komakech examined what happens when humanitarian support withdraws, Orach’s earlier scholarship focused on how health systems respond when displacement arrives. The progression reflects an intellectual continuity grounded in history.
Prof. Garimoi Orach stands in jubilation with his doctoral supervisees, Henry Komakech (right) and Dr. David Lubogo (left), following the successful defence of Komakech’s PhD thesis at Makerere University on December 19, 2025. It reflects Orach’s decades of contribution to mentoring scholars and advancing refugee health and public health in complex emergencies.
“My work has enabled me to mentor many graduate students in disaster risk reduction and refugee health. About ten PhDs have completed under my supervision in this area,” Prof. Orach said, speaking with the benefit of hindsight after decades of academic mentorship and leadership at MakSPH. “Dr. Komakech’s work is extremely unique. His study examines how repatriation affects health systems in hosting districts, a question rarely studied at this depth, especially at PhD level.”
Uganda’s integrated refugee policy makes the study even more important. Unlike the parallel model, where refugee services operate separately from national systems, Uganda uses an integrated model where refugees and host populations share health services. Therefore, when refugees leave, the health system itself experiences a transition. His findings show the need for preparedness and sustainability planning, since humanitarian funding declines when refugee numbers decrease, Prof. Orach argued.
The field before the student
A South Sudanese refugee girl shields her face from the harsh sun while waiting for services at Maaji Health Center in Adjumani District, northern Uganda, on June 14, 2017. The scene reflects the heightened demand placed on frontline health facilities during refugee arrivals, when humanitarian support expands medicines, staffing and infrastructure, and the subsequent strain on host systems as services are absorbed following repatriation and partner withdrawal. This transition is examined in Komakech’s doctoral research. Photo: H. Athumani/VOA.
Orach’s entry into refugee health was not theoretical. After earning his Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery from Makerere University in 1988, he completed his internship at St. Francis Hospital, Nsambya, before being posted to West Nile as a Medical Officer at Maracha Hospital in Arua District in 1989. By 1990, he had become Medical Superintendent of the same hospital, serving in a region shaped by displacement from South Sudan and northern Uganda. Decades later, it would be the same West Nile districts where Komakech conducted his doctoral research.
In that environment, displacement was not a policy concept but a clinical reality. Hospital registers reflected migration patterns. Drug shortages, referral pressures, and fluctuating patient volumes were part of daily management. Refugee health was not yet an academic specialisation, Orach recalls. It was a lived service delivery, observed through overcrowded wards, strained supply chains, and district health systems adjusting in real time to population movements.
A woman and children return from collecting water in Bidi Bidi Refugee Settlement in northern Uganda on June 9, 2017. Large refugee influxes place immediate pressure on essential services such as water supply, sanitation and health care, expanding humanitarian support systems that host districts must later sustain as populations repatriate. Photo: Associated Press via VOA.
Those experiences gradually shifted his attention toward population health. Orach returned to Makerere University for postgraduate training in public health, completing the Diploma in Public Health in 1994, with the programme culminating in the Master of Medicine in Public Health in 1996. His master’s research examined maternal mortality in Gulu District using the Sisterhood methodology, a community-based study that earned him the Community Health Research Award from the World Health Organisation (WHO) Regional Office for Africa in 1997.
The recognition marked an early indication of the policy relevance of Prof. Garimoi Orach’s work. During this period, he also undertook specialised training in refugee studies at Oxford University in 1996 and later in large-scale emergency health response through the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC)–WHO Health Emergencies in Large Populations programme in 1997. The academic trajectory was beginning to align with what he had already encountered in practice in West Nile.
In 1999, after completing his master’s training, he intended to return to district service from where it all began. A senior academic intervened. “Professor Gilbert Bukenya asked me where I intended to work,” Orach recalls. “I told him I wanted to return to the district. He said, ‘Chris, you are not going anywhere. You will stay here at the university.’” That decision redirected his career toward academic public health. Between 1996 and 2002, he served as a Research Fellow at MakSPH, at the time called the Institute of Public Health (IPH), combining teaching, research, and field engagement.
Department of Community Health and Behavioural Sciences staff pose for a photo during a meeting at our training site in Kasangati in 2025. Prof. Christopher Garimoi Orach, second right, who led the Department from 2010 to 2019, stands alongside colleagues under the current leadership of Head of Department Assoc. Prof. Christine Nalwadda.
International collaboration soon expanded the scope of Orach’s work. Through a European Union–supported partnership linking Makerere University, Oxford University, the Institute of Tropical Medicine in Antwerp, and Moi University in Kenya, he deepened research into refugee welfare policy and emergency public health systems. The collaboration also opened further academic pathways. He pursued additional training at the Institute of Tropical Medicine in Antwerp, completing a second Master of Public Health in 2000, before later earning a PhD in Public Health from Vrije Universiteit Brussel in 2006.
His doctoral research examined reproductive health services for refugee and host populations in Uganda and the policy implications of integrating those services within national health systems. The work, published in The Lancet, which is one of the world’s oldest and most prestigious peer-reviewed general medical journals, informed policy reforms on refugee health at a time when Uganda was strengthening its legal and institutional framework for refugee protection, culminating in the Refugees Act of 2006 and the Refugees Regulations of 2010. Decades later, Komakech would revisit the same policy landscape from another angle, examining what happens to those integrated health systems when refugee populations begin to leave host districts, and humanitarian support recedes.
Orach’s academic career at Makerere subsequently progressed through successive ranks from being appointed Assistant Lecturer in 2003, Lecturer in 2006, Senior Lecturer in 2009, Associate Professor in 2012, and a full Professor of Public Health in 2015. Alongside teaching and research, he also served diligently as Head of the Department of Community Health and Behavioural Sciences from 2010 to 2019 and as Deputy Dean of the School of Public Health from 2012 to 2020. Over these years, he supervised postgraduate scholars and helped consolidate refugee health and public health in complex emergencies into an institutionalised field of teaching and research.
Prof. Garimoi Orach, Professor of Community Health and a leading scholar in public health in complex emergencies, gestures in celebration after successfully supervising three doctoral students, including Henry Komakech, to completion for Makerere University’s 2026 Graduation Ceremony.
Emergency response gradually became a curriculum. What began as field-informed training, including a short course in Public Health in Complex Emergencies (PHCE) that started in 1999, evolved into formal postgraduate programmes.
In 2014, the School established the Master of Public Health in Disaster Management, drawing on earlier emergency health initiatives and international collaborations. Refugee health systems, disaster preparedness, and post-disaster recovery had entered formal academic training within the institution. By the time Komakech embarked on his doctoral study three years later in 2017, the intellectual infrastructure for the questions he was asking had already been built, with the strong contribution to the field by front-runners like Orach. The scholar who would later examine the system at its point of transition had also grown within that very environment.
“Dr. Komakech’s journey mirrors mine. During my PhD, my supervisor’s illness delayed my completion. In his case, he suffered a severe road traffic accident that required multiple surgeries and interrupted his doctoral studies for several years,” Prof. Orach said, reflecting on the life-threatening accident that forced his student to withdraw from the programme before returning to defend his thesis in December 2025. “Despite this, he continued publishing and remained academically active. When he submitted his thesis draft, its quality surprised us greatly. His perseverance demonstrates true resilience, an essential quality in doctoral training.”
Prof. Garimoi Orach listens as Henry Komakech defends his doctoral thesis on refugee repatriation and health services in West Nile at Makerere University on December 19, 2025, reflecting scholarly continuity between field-building and new research on health system transitions during repatriation.
The student within the field
Komakech’s formation shows a long relationship with Makerere University and with the public health questions that would later shape his doctoral work. He first trained at Makerere’s Faculty of Social Sciences, earning a Bachelor of Arts in Social Sciences in 2005 before entering development and humanitarian work. Between 2006 and 2008, he worked with CARE International and the Charity for Peace Foundation, supporting communities affected by displacement and gender-based violence.
The work exposed him to the social and institutional pressures that accompany conflict and forced migration. Seeking stronger analytical tools to understand how health and social systems respond to those pressures, he later enrolled at Makerere University School of Public Health, completing a Master of Health Services Research in 2010.
Henry Komakech adjusts his doctoral bonnet after being conferred the Doctor of Philosophy (Public Health) degree during Makerere University’s 76th Graduation Ceremony at Freedom Square on February 25, 2026.
It was during this period that Komakech first met Prof. Garimoi Orach, beginning an academic relationship that would later shape his doctoral journey. Over more than a decade at the School now, he has served as a Research Associate, contributing to teaching, supervision, and the design and implementation of health systems research.
His work has spanned disaster resilience, refugee integration into national health systems, and the governance of health services in fragile settings, combining field research, project coordination, policy engagement, and academic publication. The doctoral study he defended in 2025 built directly on this sustained engagement with displacement, humanitarian response, and the capacity of public systems to adapt to changing pressures.
Dr. Henry Komakech (centre) stands with fellow MakSPH PhD graduands at Makerere Universitys 76th Graduation Ceremony (L–R): Dr. Olivia Nakisita, Dr. Aber Harriet Odonga, Dr. David Lubogo, Dr. Samalie Namukose, Dr. Moses Ntaro and Dr. Jimmy Osuret. February 25, 2026, Freedom Square, Makerere University.
The question that emerges when people leave
Komakech’s doctoral study examined the large-scale repatriation of South Sudanese refugees between 2006 and 2009 in the West Nile districts of Arua, Moyo, and Adjumani. Conducted between 2017 and 2019, the research used a mixed-methods design to analyse how district health systems adjust when refugee populations begin to decline.
The study investigated three related questions of how the repatriation process unfolded in the districts, how health services were reorganised once refugees left, and whether those services remained sustainable after humanitarian actors scaled down operations. Evidence was drawn from policy and programme documents alongside 81 key informant interviews with government officials, district health managers, humanitarian agencies, and community stakeholders.
A young South Sudanese refugee carries a foam mattress toward a communal reception tent at Imvepi Reception Centre in northern Uganda on June 9, 2017, as newly arrived families undergo registration and settlement. Refugee influxes trigger rapid expansion of humanitarian support for shelter and essential services; as repatriation later occurs and partners withdraw, host systems often absorb these responsibilities with limited resources. Photo: Associated Press via VOA.
The results from the study confirm that the repatriation process itself within the areas was highly structured and collaborative. In this process, national and district governments worked with UN agencies, humanitarian organisations, and refugee communities to organise voluntary return. Information campaigns, confidence-building visits to areas of origin, health screening, and reintegration support helped prepare refugees for departure and reduce uncertainty about conditions back home. Through this coordinated system, nearly 95,000 South Sudanese refugees were repatriated from settlements across the West Nile districts between 2005 and 2009.
The departure of refugees, however, was found to reshape local health systems within host communities. Dr. Komakech’s thesis reports that during periods of influx, humanitarian agencies expanded district capacity by providing essential medicines, health workers, infrastructure, and logistical support. Once repatriation began and aid organisations withdrew, district health teams assumed responsibility for facilities and services previously supported by humanitarian partners.
Although Uganda’s integrated refugee policy enables these services to be absorbed into the national health system, the study reports, districts often face persistent shortages of medicines, personnel, and operational funding. Many facilities established for emergency response were found to remain in place but lacked sustainable financing for routine service delivery.
Displaced families walk toward registration and settlement areas on arrival at Imvepi Refugee Settlement in northern Uganda. Komakech’s research highlights how health systems must adapt to support both refugees and host communities during arrival, settlement, and eventual repatriation, emphasising planning for continuity of care and sustainable services. Photo: Kieran Doherty / Oxfam.
In earnest, the study characterises repatriation as a health systems shock, affecting governance, financing, and service sustainability. Its author cogently states that humanitarian resources tend to decline rapidly when refugee numbers fall, while government allocations adjust more slowly through national budget cycles. Consequently, he notes, district health systems in the areas inherit expanded responsibilities without equivalent continuity of resources;
“Districts do not experience relief when NGOs leave,” Komakech explained. “They transition from supported service delivery to unfunded responsibility.” The research also reveals variation across districts. In Arua, earlier integration of partner-supported services into district structures helped cushion the transition, suggesting that governance choices and early planning indeed influence how systems absorb the shift from humanitarian response to routine service delivery.
The evidence in his study points to the need to treat repatriation as a planned health systems transition rather than a simple population movement. Dr. Komakech, in his recommendations, calls for humanitarian agencies to align exit strategies with district health planning, urges the government to integrate refugee-supported services into national systems early, and highlights the need for sustained investment by both government and development partners to ensure that district health services remain functional as humanitarian support declines.
For his mentor and principal supervisor, Prof. Orach, the study confirms Komakech’s growing authority in the field, following his graduation with a PhD in Public Health from Makerere University on February 25, 2026.
“I now consider Dr. Komakech a health systems expert in refugee health. Having worked in this field for nearly a decade now, he is well-positioned to advance research on health systems in emergency settings. His work demonstrates how governments, NGOs, and communities can collaborate to sustain healthcare during repatriation. He is an important asset to the university and will likely be sought after by humanitarian organisations. I hope he remains in academia to continue advancing this developing field.”
Mentorship and the reproduction of scholarship
MakSPH faculty join the School’s seven newly graduated PhD scholars, including Dr. Henry Komakech (third right), for a group photograph during Makerere University’s 76th Graduation Ceremony at the Freedom Square on February 25, 2026.
Mentorship was at the heart of the bond between Prof. Orach and Dr. Komakech, built on trust, mutual respect, and a shared commitment to advancing public health scholarship and research at Makerere University School of Public Health. For Orach, supervising a PhD was never only about research guidance; it meant nurturing a scholar, shaping independent thinking, and opening paths for leadership in the field.
“My mentorship philosophy is simple,” Orach explained. “I see students as future scholars who should surpass me. I guide them toward unexplored areas where they can lead. Knowledge must be shared openly, and students should always have direct access to their mentors. Silence concerns me. Active engagement is essential.”
The philosophy prioritises intellectual independence. Rather than directing students toward his own research agenda, Prof. Orach encourages them to pursue critical questions that expand the boundaries of public health scholarship. Dr. Henry Komakech’s own doctoral work exemplified this approach. “Prof. Orach played a critical role throughout my PhD journey, offering guidance beyond academics, shaping study design, methodological rigour, theoretical grounding, and policy relevance. His mentorship helped me navigate difficult phases of fieldwork, analysis, and writing while encouraging independence and critical thinking,” Komakech reflected.
MakSPH Dean Prof. Rhoda Wanyenze, flanked by Head of Department of CHBS Assoc. Prof. Christine Nalwadda, present MakSPH graduands during Makerere University’s 76th Graduation Ceremony on February 25, 2026, reflecting the School’s growing contribution to public health workforce development, including training for humanitarian and complex emergency settings.
Mentorship remains a cornerstone of MakSPH’s scholarly culture, reflected in the Department of Community Health and Behavioural Sciences, chaired by Assoc. Prof. Christine Nalwadda, since March 2020 Dr. Nalwadda praised Komakech’s contribution to advancing the School’s mission, noting: “As a School, we are proud of the work of our scholars and the impact it has on the University and the communities we serve. Dr. Komakech’s research addresses a matter of national and regional importance. Uganda hosts nearly two million refugees, the largest refugee population in Africa, and understanding how health systems adjust when populations move is critical. His work provides vital evidence to guide planning and ensure health services remain responsive during these transitions.”
She said her department now has 12 faculty members, 11 holding doctoral degrees, with the remaining colleague progressing through their doctoral training. This concentration of expertise reflects a culture where mentorship and scholarly development are central. Within this environment, the mentor-student relationship between Orach and Komakech represents more than individual achievement. Orach’s scholarship established refugee health and public health in complex emergencies as an institutionalised area of study at the School, and Komakech’s research extends this trajectory, examining how health systems endure once humanitarian intensity declines.
Looking ahead, Dr. Henry Komakech wants to consolidate this emerging field, mentor younger scholars, and ensure research evidence informs policy and practice for refugee and displaced populations. For Prof. Christopher Garimoi Orach, this progression represents the deeper purpose of doctoral training. “Public health must lead in fragile and humanitarian settings,” he asserts. “We must train highly skilled professionals like Komakech in disaster and humanitarian response who can operate within strong governance and funding structures. My greatest satisfaction is producing more PhDs equipped to lead in these contexts. I am confident our efforts are bearing fruit, though much work remains.”
Assoc. Prof. Christine Nalwadda, Head of the Department of Community Health and Behavioural Sciences, congratulates Dr. Henry Komakech following his conferment of the Doctor of Philosophy in Public Health degree of Makerere University on February 25, 2026.
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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