The U.S. CDC funded Leading and Managing for Results in Pandemics (LMRP) program came to a close in March 2023. Uganda LMRP participants conducted over 25 priority activities in the span of 6 months, including the development of a training curriculum for rapid response teams, coordination of media engagements to share behavior change communication on the transmission of Ebola virus, and provision of medical supplies to Ebola treatment units among others.
Implemented in six countries, the LMRP program is a hybrid experiential learning program developed by Management Sciences for Health (MSH) and designed (in consultation with CDC Atlanta, CDC Uganda, and the Uganda Ministry of Health) to enhance the leadership and management capacities of public health teams to better respond to current and future public health emergencies.
In Uganda, the LMRP program commenced in January 2022 with the participation of ten national-level teams corresponding to emergency response units within the MoH. Over the course of 15 weeks, teams engaged in online learning modules and participated in a virtual forum to discuss common governance, leadership, and management challenges. This learning was applied to a real challenge identified and prioritized in each team’s own work.
Throughout this period, teams met bi-weekly and were coached by a trained LMRP facilitator to develop an action plan comprised of a vision and mission statement, desired measurable result (DMR), identified obstacles/challenges, and priority actions.
Following these 15 weeks of learning, participants implemented their action plan over a five-month period to achieve their DMR. Aside from implementing the action plan, teams also faced the challenge of shifting their activities to accommodate other competing priorities such as responding to the Ebola disease outbreak.
The redirection of resources may have affected the team’s ability to fully achieve their desired measurable result, influenced the DMR to change and align to new priorities, and caused two teams to drop from the LMRP program.
The successful implementation of the LMRP program culminated in the results presentation held on 30th March 2023. Representatives from each team congregated in Kampala to share the journey of executing their action plan and actual results achieved (see Table 1). In attendance to hear each team’s experience was Dr. Henry Mwebesa, Director General of the Uganda Ministry of Health, represented by Dr. Alex R. Ario, Director Uganda National Institute of Public Health (UNIPH) along with other representatives from the Ministry of Health, CDC Uganda and MSH Uganda. In total, 46 participants successfully completed the LMRP program.
The summary of the achievements are as follows:
| Team | Desired Measurable Result | Achieved Result |
| Epidemiology and Surveillance | One (1) functional multi-disciplinary RRT at central level and one at each of the two (2) most at risk regions (Fort Portal and Arua) of Uganda established between 1st June and 31st December 2022. | Conducted training of rapid response team at central level by July 2022; RRT training completed at Fort Portal and Arua by March 2023. |
| Public Health Research / Strategic Information, Research, and Innovation | Increase the number of pillars with up to date Covid-19 data in the ministry of health’s information hub from the current 0 to 5 by September 30, 2022. | Team did not implement action plan. |
| Workforce Development | To increase the percentage of frontline FETP graduates in the eastern region of Uganda who complete the six necessary core public health surveillance and outbreak detection activities at their places of work by 60% from its current level, in the period May 15, 2022 to December 31, 2022. | Team currently does not have any results and is still implementing their action plan. |
| Case Management | Establish a multi-hazard response preparedness and readiness plan in 4 out of the 16 Regional Referral Hospitals in the country between April and September 2022. | Switched to Ebola response activities:
– Established Ebola treatment units (ETUs) in the affected districts. – Deployed health workers to work in the ETUs. – Mobilized medical supplies needed for use in the ETUs. – Engaged and coordinated stakeholders for a joint response. |
| Risk Communication | Between April and September 2022, an assessment of the effectiveness of COVID 19 vaccination messages disseminated to the public between 2020 and 2022 in influencing COVID vaccine uptake is completed, and results disseminated.
Between September 2022 and December 2022, contain community transmission of the Ebola Virus disease using evidence-based messaging (BCC) and empowering communities through community engagement. |
|
| Logistics | Increase the availability of the 17 critical response commodities from 20% to 90% of the COVID-19 treatment units (in the 22 N/RRH) between March and September 2022. | Availability of critical response commodities of COVID-19 treatment units was increased over 90% by August 2022. |
| Public Health Emergency Operations Center | Implement a functional EBS in Fort Portal region by December 2022. | Functional events-based surveillance was established in Fort Portal.
|
| Community Engagement | Increase the reporting rate of Community Health Workers in Kamwenge from 50% to 80% and 6% to 50% in Buikwe District between April and December 2022. | Reporting rate of community health workers in Kamwenge district increased from 50% to 84% and in Buikwe District increased from 6% to 67%. |