Immaculate Atuhaire

Immaculate Atuhaire

BScPH; MScPH, Advanced-FETP
Email: atuhaire@musph.ac.ug or atuhaik@gmail.com
Telephone: +256-777816066/753602585

Host Site: Public Health Emergency Operations Centre

Host Mentor: Dr. Issa Makumbi

ABOUT THE FELLOW

Immaculate Atuhaire is a field epidemiologist with a master’s degree in Public Health and a Bachelor’s degree (Hons) in Public Health from International Health Sciences. She has particular interest in public health emergencies and response.

Immaculate was hosted at the National Public Health Emergency Operations- Ministry of Health (PHEOC), the hub for coordinating preparedness, response, and recovery from public health emergencies.

At her host site, she was involved in a number of activities that helped her gain a better understanding of disease preparedness, detection and response. This also equipped her with skills in public administration and training . She has participated in a number of outbreak investigations such as Malaria outbreaks, Yellow fever outbreaks, COVID-19 outbreak, Jigger infestation outbreak and Ebola outbreak. She has conducted an evaluation of the health interventions such as Home-Based care for COVID-19 and quarantine services in Ebola. She also participated in risk assessment and preparedness of six border districts in West Nile and drafted a national rapid preparedness plan for Plague.

  Achievements at the Host Site

• Led contact tracing pillar during the Ebola response in Mubende District
• Participated in yellow fever outbreaks in Masaka City, Malaria outbreak in Iganga District, jigger infestation in western Uganda and the COVID-19 outbreak.
• Participated in risk assessment, preparedness and POPCAB in West Nile region.
• Participated in drafting a concept for SIMEX exercise for EVD.
• Drafted a national rapid preparedness plan for plague.
• Coordinated COVID-19 surveillance activities in Rwenzori region including school-based surveillance and COVID-19 vaccination.
• Supervised Arua Region polio vaccination in January-March 2022.
• Led the vaccination defaulter tracking team in Hoima District
• Participated in capacity building activities IDSR in greater Masaka region
  • Malaria normal channels in Acholi and Lira regions.
  • Inter Action Review for COVID-19 as a facilitator for community engagement pillar.

• Participated in Data management and data analysis for daily situation report for the country.
• Participated in Data Quality Assessment (DQA) in Ankole and Teso regions.
• Participated in internal review assessment for NAPHS implemented by Prime Minister’s Office.
• Participated in the
• Perused leadership courses among which include: Public leadership with American embassy-Kampala, Relationships, equipping, attitude and leadership success, and invaluable laws of growth

Fellowship program specific achievements

• Led one outbreak investigation ‘Malaria outbreak in Iganga district, 2021’
  • Participated in the other outbreaks and studies Yellow fever outbreak in five districts
  • Jigger infestation outbreak
  • Assessment for readiness for health facilities in Uganda
  • ITN use in Uganda
  • Effects of COVID-19 on TB case notification and treatment success rate in Uganda, January 2019-June 2021
  • Evaluate the performance of Laboratory Services in the COVID-19 Response in Uganda

• Reducing eMTCT missed appointments in Soroti city.

• Risk assessment and preparedness of districts and health facilities to respond to plague in West Nile district.

• Led a quality improvement project in Kabelebyong on reducing eMTCT missed appointments.
• Geospatial and economic index of HIV recency in Uganda

Capacity building

• Participated in training the frontline epidemiologists for cohort 16 and cohort 17 and their mentorship.
• Took part in Training of Trainers in East Africa about POPCAB
• Coordinated the field epidemiologists of Cohort 2021 as a cohort president

Written communication

• Manuscripts
  • ‘Malaria Outbreak facilitated by agricultural activities, residing near water logged
  • areas and participating in late night campaign activities: Nabitende Subcounty,
  • Iganga District, December 2020-February 2021’
  • ‘Assessment of preparedness of border districts to respond to plague-West Nile Region, Uganda- August, 2021’
• Epidemiological bulletin articles
  • Malaria Outbreak facilitated by agricultural activities, residing near water
  • logged areas and participating in late night campaign activities: Nabitende
  • Subcounty, Iganga District, December 2020-February 2021’
  • ‘Assessment of preparedness of border districts to respond to plague-West
  • Nile Region, Uganda- August, 2021.’
• Newspaper articles in the New Vision
  • Why the fight against malaria in Uganda must continue
  • Broaden women’s health agenda beyond maternal child health
  • Could haemophilia be an invisible cause of the death of mothers

Conference presentations

• National Conferences
• 7th and 8th National Field Epidemiology Conference
• The 16th Joint Annual Scientific Health Conference (JASH) 2022

International conferences

• TEPHINET global conference in Panama in September, 2022
• Conference on Public Health in Africa, 2022
• International conferences
• TEPHINET global conference in Panama in September, 2022
• Conference on Public Health in Africa, 2022

Summary of Epidemiological Study: 

 Title: Assessment of preparedness of border districts to respond to plague-West Nile Region, Uganda- August, 2021.

Background: Ituri Province in Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) is a hotspot for plague, with occasional crossing of case-patients into Uganda. As of June 2021, 117 cases were reported in Ituri Province, DRC. In August 2021, we evaluated the risk of plague importation into West Nile region of Uganda and assessed the level of preparedness to respond.

Methods:We used the Population Connectivity Across Borders toolkit to assess risk of plague introduction in 6 West Nile districts and one city. We categorized risk in districts based on previous cases, volume of cross-border movements, and proximity to the outbreak epicenter in DRC. We assessed districts’ preparedness to respond using an adapted WHO checklist and Readyscore criteria (scores <40%= ’not prepared’). We assessed 47 health facilities across six West Nile districts for response readiness in terms of healthcare worker training, availability of standard operating procedures, and training of village health teams.

Results: Two districts (Arua and Zombo) in West Nile were in the highest-risk category for plague importation. All districts scored as ‘not prepared’, although Zombo and Arua scored higher (both 39%) than other districts. Of 47 health facilities assessed, 21 were ‘not ready’, and no facility was ‘prepared’. Only 10 had staff who had been trained in plague-related activities.

Conclusion: No districts or health facilities in the area assessed were prepared to respond to potential plague importation. The risk of importation is high, especially in Arua and Zombo Districts. Arua and Zombo Districts should be prioritized for preparedness activities for a potential plague outbreak

Key lessons learnt during the fellowship

• Outbreak investigation and response
• Coordination skills
• Presentation skills
• Scientific writing for concepts, abstracts, manuscripts and bulletins
• Advanced analytical skills
• Development of research tools
• QGIS for maps and using other tools like kobo collect to make electronic questionnaires

Next Steps

With the skills I have gained and enhanced during this fellowship, I hope to be a great resource in public health leadership both in developing countries and developed countries in developing strategies in fighting against outbreaks and pandemics and handling complex emergencies.

Pictorial