Uganda Public Health Fellowship Program's Contributions to the National HIV and TB Programs, 2015–2020

Ario, Alex Riolexus; Bulage, Lilian; Wibabara, Yvette; Muwereza, Peter; Eurien, Daniel; Kabwama, Steven Ndugwa; Kwesiga, Benon; Kadobera, Daniel; Turyahabwe, Stavia; Musinguzi, Joshua; Wanyenze, Rhoda K.; Nasirumbi, Pamela M; Lukoye, Deus; Harris, Julie; Mills, Lisa; Nelson, Lisa

doi:10.9745/ghsp-d-21-00574

Cited by 1 publication

(3 citation statements)

References 17 publications

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“…The director of UNIPH also serves as the program director for the PHFP. A strong partnership with the Makerere University School of Public Health (MakSPH) and the U.S. CDC enables technical support to the program and partnerships on individual projects [12,13].…”

Section: History and Description Of Phfp In Ugandamentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Close mentorship, individual work and teamwork, and time spent in the field at the local and regional levels conducting on-the-ground activities and responses are key characteristics of the program. Fellows must complete multiple competency-based deliverables during their time in the program, including in outbreak investigation/public health emergency response, surveillance data analysis, surveillance system evaluation, applied epidemiologic studies, cost analyses of outbreaks, quality improvement science, burden of disease estimation, and leadership skills [12,13]. Field projects are selected based on MoH and other stakeholder priorities at the time.…”

Section: History and Description Of Phfp In Ugandamentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Despite the global health security nature of the work, almost all the funding comes from the U.S. government, via the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEP-FAR) and from the President's Malaria Initiative (PMI). As a result, all PHFP fellows carry out HIV-and TBrelated priority projects related to PEPFAR targets as well as malaria-related activities [13]. As of September 2021, PHFP fellows had completed 191 outbreak investigations, 370 epidemiologic studies and quality improvement projects, and published 88 manuscripts in peer-reviewed journals and 189 public health bulletin articles from their work in the program.…”

Section: History and Description Of Phfp In Ugandamentioning

confidence: 99%

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Improving the effectiveness of Field Epidemiology Training Programs: characteristics that facilitated effective response to the COVID-19 pandemic in Uganda

Harris

Kadobera²,

Kwesiga³

et al. 2022

BMC Health Serv Res

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Background The global need for well-trained field epidemiologists has been underscored in the last decade in multiple pandemics, the most recent being COVID-19. Field Epidemiology Training Programs (FETPs) are in-service training programs that improve country capacities to respond to public health emergencies across different levels of the health system. Best practices for FETP implementation have been described previously. The Uganda Public Health Fellowship Program (PHFP), or Advanced-FETP in Uganda, is a two-year fellowship in field epidemiology funded by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and situated in the Uganda National Institute of Public Health (UNIPH). We describe how specific attributes of the Uganda PHFP that are aligned with best practices enabled substantial contributions to the COVID-19 response in Uganda. Methods We describe the PHFP in Uganda and review examples of how specific program characteristics facilitate integration with Ministry of Health needs and foster a strong response, using COVID-19 pandemic response activities as examples. We describe PHFP activities and outputs before and during the COVID-19 response and offer expert opinions about the impact of the program set-up on these outputs. Results Unlike nearly all other Advanced FETPs in Africa, PHFP is delinked from an academic degree-granting program and enrolls only post-Master’s-degree fellows. This enables full-time, uninterrupted commitment of academically-trained fellows to public health response. Uganda’s PHFP has strong partner support in country, sufficient technical support from program staff, Ministry of Health (MoH), CDC, and partners, and full-time dedicated directorship from a well-respected MoH staff member. The PHFP is physically co-located inside the UNIPH with the emergency operations center (EOC), which provides a direct path for health alerts to be investigated by fellows. It has recognized value within the MoH, which integrates graduates into key MoH and partner positions. During February 2020-September 2021, PHFP fellows and graduates completed 67 major COVID-related projects. PHFP activities during the COVID-19 response were specifically requested by the MoH or by partners, or generated de novo by the program, and were supervised by all partners. Conclusion Specific attributes of the PHFP enable effective service to the Ministry of Health in Uganda. Among the most important is the enrollment of post-graduate fellows, which leads to a high level of utilization of the program fellows by the Ministry of Health to fulfill real-time needs. Strong leadership and sufficient technical support permitted meaningful program outputs during COVID-19 pandemic response. Ensuring the inclusion of similar characteristics when implementing FETPs elsewhere may allow them to achieve a high level of impact.

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Section: History and Description Of Phfp In Ugandamentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: History and Description Of Phfp In Ugandamentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: History and Description Of Phfp In Ugandamentioning

confidence: 99%

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