From 16–19 March 2026, the Uganda National Institute of Public Health (UNIPH) hosted a benchmarking visit by the Kenya National Public Health Institute (KNPHI) at the AFENET Headquarters in Kampala. The week-long engagement brought together teams from KNPHI, UNIPH, AFENET and US CDC to exchange experiences, best practices, and lessons learned in workforce development, governance, sustainability, and partnerships, reinforcing regional cooperation to build resilient public health systems.
An examination of the fellowship-focused workforce development
A discussion was held on strengthening public health workforce development through structured fellowship programs. The Kenya delegation examined UNIPH’s approach to developing, reviewing, and refining two-year fellowship curricula across the Advanced Field Epidemiology Program, Laboratory Leadership Program, and Health Informatics Program. Discussions emphasized curriculum content development, evaluation criteria for fellows, and continuous review mechanisms to keep training relevant and impactful.
Participants noted several standout practices. UNIPH’s host-site placement model allows fellows to select institutions aligned with their career goals, promoting practical learning and ensuring fellows deliver tangible outputs, for example, contributing articles to host-site bulletins. Another key practice is the strategic engagement of fellowship alumni as field mentors, a model that addresses staffing gaps while strengthening mentorship, knowledge transfer, and institutional memory.
Experiential Learning through Field Visits
The KNPHI delegation participated in site visits to various sectors of the Ministry of Health – National Health Laboratory and Diagnostic Services, Vaccines and Immunization Division, National Malaria Elimination Division, Department of Health Information, and UNIPH. These interactions enabled direct engagement with fellows and host mentors and provided practical insight into the mentor-mentee model underpinning UNIPH’s fellowship programs. Delegates observed how structured mentorship builds technical capacity, supports real-time public health responses, and fosters the competencies necessary to detect, investigate, and respond to outbreaks.
Delegates highlighted the fellowships’ role as a critical pipeline for producing a skilled and responsive workforce drawn from diverse disciplines. The emphasis on experiential learning, coupled with strong institutional collaboration, surfaced as central to advancing resilient and responsive public health systems across the region.
The visit was concluded with consolidated lessons on the design, implementation, evaluation, and sustainability of fellowship programs. Delegates appreciated the comparative advantage of fellowship-based, practice-oriented training over traditional academic pathways for building a responsive workforce. They also gained a broader understanding of UNIPH’s program portfolio, including Advanced, Intermediate, and Frontline Field Epidemiology Programs, Laboratory Leadership Program, Health Informatics Program, and Data Impact Program, and how each track contributes uniquely to skills and competency development.
Reflections of the KNPHI Delegation
Reflecting on the visit, KNPHI delegates expressed readiness to establish and operationalize their own fellowship programs, noting that they had gained insights from the unique model underpinning the Uganda Public Health Fellowship Program developed by UNIPH to build capacity of critical cadres of health professionals to address public health needs in Uganda.
This benchmarking visit underscores how regional partnerships can accelerate institutional learning, strengthen health systems, and build more resilient public health ecosystems across Africa.