Allen Eva Okullo +256 772-932792 / +256 701-932792 Host MentorsDr. Joshua Musinguzi Dr. Wilfred Kirungi Academic MentorDr. Fred Makumbi |
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ABOUT THE FELLOWGERALD PANDE holds a Master of Public Health and Bachelor of Environmental Health Science degrees from Makerere University. Gerald was hosted at STD/AIDs control programme, Ministry of health. AIDS control program (ACP) is located in the department of national disease control in the MoH, under the directorate of clinical and community health service. ACP provides leadership for implementation of the national health sector HIV response. During the fellowship programme, Gerald actively participated in the programme activities, worked with different partners and conducted outbreak investigations. Although Pande had worked as the Assistant District Health Officer at Nakaseke District, where he managed several outbreaks. He had never led successfully an outbreak investigation. In his own words.” The fellowship programme has built my skills and capacity in outbreak investigation; I managed to lead a cholera outbreak investigation which stopped cold after only 10 days and there was no further transmission afterwards. In comparison, elsewhere in Kasese District, an outbreak like this would usually last much longer, and often spread to other places”. Achievements at the host site
Program-specific achievements (key deliverables)He evaluated the surveillance system for 12-month retention in care among HIV clients on ART in Uganda and I submitted a report ‘’Twelve month retention in care among HIV clients on ART in Uganda as reported in the HMIS (2011-2014) He has participated in 5 outbreak investigations (including two cholera outbreaks and a typhoid outbreak) I also published a bulletin in the quarterly MoH bulletin. The article ‘’A cholera outbreak in a fishing village in Kasese, Western-Uganda caused by drinking contaminated water from a fenced lake shore collection area’’. His planned study was entitled ‘’Evaluation of the Community-Based HIV Service Delivery Models used to reach Sex Workers along MalabaKampala Highway. He prepared three abstracts and were accepted for oral presentation
Print Media ‘’Male involvement is critical in elimination of Mother to Child Transmission in Uganda’’ this was published in the new vision of Aug, 20, 2015 Manuscript Submitted for Publication A Prolonged, Community-Wide Cholera Outbreak Caused by Drinking Water Contaminated by Sewage in Kasese District, Western Uganda Cholera Outbreak Caused by Drinking Contaminated Water from a Lakes-hore Water Collection Site – Uganda, June 2015 Summary of Planned study:
Introduction: Sex worker’s community based HIV/AIDS service delivery models put in place by Ministry of Health and its development partners include: Static facility services. These are located in hotspot areas (where the actual buying and selling of sex takes place) and sex workers can easily access the HIV services without incurring transport costs, services are provided daily and for long working hours (from 9am-10am). However, since the inception of these HIV service community based models no evaluation has been done to know the most efficient model used to reach sex workers. This evaluation aimed at assessing the effectiveness of these models and identifying challenges in the implementation of these models. Methods: This assessment adopted across-sectional study design using quantitative (interview with sex workers) and qualitative (interview MoH staff, health workers, district health team members, program staff at different levels involved in delivery of HIV care services) data collection methods. Effectiveness of the model was the proportion of sex workers who have had an HIV test in the last 12 months through different models and the proportion of HIV positive sex workers linked to care in through different models Results: The majority of the sex workers 71.7% (327/456) reported to have taken HCT services in the past 12 months from a static facility. Of those linked into care, 90.1% (120/132) reported to have been linked through static mechanism and 88.6 % (117/132) of those in linked into care were on ART. Challenges faced by the providers include: Stock out of testing kits, Some people do not trust results given during outreaches especially if blood is drawn from a finger. Most outreaches are monthly which makes linkage to care hard because FSWs are mobile. The sex workers also faced challenges that included: Long waiting hours (especially in static clinics), Some places do not have specific clinics for FSW, Stigma and discrimination is still high among FSW and low facilitation for peer educators. Conclusion: All the three service delivery models are being implemented, Static service delivery model had the highest number of FSWs tested for HIV and linked into care and community based HIV service delivery model faces challenges: lack of logistic and unfriendly service Lessons LearnedHe has acquired knowledge in public health surveillance. This has been gained through analysis of Dhis2 data. I have also acquired the skills in response to public health emergencies. This has been obtained during the response to outbreaks that I have participated in. He has also developed a study protocol and a report which has been every useful for me to acquire the competence in conducting planed epidemiology studies. Through the presentation that I made both at national and international, newspaper, MoH bulletin & manuscript preparation I was able to gain knowledge in scientific communication. Lastly, I have acquired the competence in leadership and management through planning and management of field assignments and support supervision to the district during my placement. ‘’Iam ready to use the skills acquired to service the public to the highest standard’’. |
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