Sarah Elayeete is a fully-fledged field epidemiologist with a master’s degree in Public health and a background in community Health Science. Sarah has particular interest in HIV project implementation.
During the Field Epidemiology fellowship training, Sarah was attached to the National AIDS Control Program (ACP), a department within Uganda Ministry of Health.
Through the in-service training she attained skills in leadership, outbreak investigation and response. She led two outbreak investigations and participated in one other. She was involved in case investigations during the 2022 Ebola outbreak.
Achievements at the Host Site
Participated in the development of the drop-In centre guidelines and assessment data tools for key and priority populations.
Supported the review of the 2022 consolidated guidelines for HIV prevention and treatment.
Participated in mid-term development of the peer training manual for key and priority populations.
Participated in the assessment of the drop-in centre operation exercise in Busia District
Participated in support supervision of health facilities providing key population services in Northern region
Participated in the development and review of KP tools for key and priority populations data collection.
Led the assessment of pre-exposure prophylaxis eligibility and uptake among people at substantial risk of HIV infection. Evaluated the Voluntary male medical circumcision service uptake during flexi hours verse regular
Designed and implemented a QI Project on Improving PrEP uptake among pregnant and breast-feeding women at increased risk for HIV acquisition atKatakwi General Hospital
Participated in quarterly review meetings for the TWGs
Fellowship program specific achievements
Led two outbreak investigations:
Investigation of severe illness among vaccinated hospitalized and non-hospitalized COVID-19 patients during the second wave of COVID-19 in Uganda, 2020-2021
Food borne outbreak in Obongi district, August, 2021.
Participated in three other outbreak investigations:
Malaria investigation in Iganda District, 2021
Health facility preparedness to COVID-19 management during the second wave, Karamoja region, 2021
EVD outbreak in Central region, 2022
Trained health workers in West Nile region on normal channels development
Facilitated frontline training of cohort 14 in Soroti and Mbale District
Participated in the EVD outbreak response in Central region
Supervised immunization defaulter tracking exercise in Hoima and Bukomasibi Districts August-October.
Participated in the EVD outbreak response and data analysis
Conference presentations
International
In the 2022 FETP International night
1st Conference on Public Health in Africa (CPHIA), 2021
National
7th national field epidemiology conference 2021 held in Kampala
8th national field epidemiology conference 2022 held in Kampala
16th Joint Annual Scientific Health Conference, 2022 held at Speke Resort Munyonyo.
Written Communication
Published a manuscript in the International journal for Infectious diseases regions titled: “Comparative epidemiologic analysis of COVID-19 Patients during the first and second waves of COVID-19 in Uganda”
Published two newspaper articles in the new vision Protect breastfeeding
Smoking an enemy to HIV drugs
Edited volume 6 issue 3 and published articles in the Uganda National Institute of Public health bulletin PrEP eligibility and uptake among people at substantial risk of HIV infection in Uganda, 2017-2021
Voluntary Male Medical Circumcision among Men over 20 years during flexi and regular hour clinics, Central Uganda, 2018-2019
“Comparative analysis of COVID-19 Patients during the 1st and 2rd waves of COVID-19 in Uganda” manuscript at the NIHP bulletin
Summary of Epidemiological Study:
Title: Comparative epidemiologic analysis of COVID-19 Patients during the first and second waves of COVID-19 inUganda, 2020-2021
Background: Uganda has had two major waves of COVID-19, the first in late 2020 and the second in mid-2021. In March 2021, the country began offering Astra-Zeneca COVID-19 vaccine. In late April 2021, the country entered a larger, second wave caused primarily by the SARS-CoV-2 Delta variant. Anecdotal reports suggested that younger persons were more prone to develop severe disease during the second wave than the first. We compared epidemiologic characteristics of hospitalized (HP) and non-hospitalized (NHP) COVID-19 patients in the two major COVID-19 waves in Uganda.
Methods: We defined ‘Wave 1’ as November-December 2020, and ‘Wave 2’ as April-June 2021. At each of two major Kampala hospitals, we collected medical records data for 100 randomly-selected HP in Wave 1 and 100 in Wave 2. We retrieved contact information for randomly-selected, PCR-confirmed NHP (200 for each wave) from laboratory records and interviewed them by phone. Demographic, clinical, and self-reported vaccination data were collected from patients or next-of-kin.
Results: A higher proportion of HP in Wave 2 than Wave 1 were female (46% vs. 27%, p=0.0001), and more Wave 2 than Wave 1 had severe disease or died (65% vs. 31%, p<0.0001). NHP in Wave 2 were younger than those in Wave 1 (median age 27 vs. 35 years, p=0.08). Median age of HP was significantly older than NHP in Wave 2 (median age 47 vs. 27 years, p<0.0001) but not Wave 1 (median age 42 vs. 35 years, p=0.15). Increasing age was associated with hospitalization in both waves, but the association was stronger in Wave 2 than Wave 1 (p<0.0001). No patients were fully vaccinated.
Conclusion: Demographic and epidemiologic characteristics of hospitalized and non-hospitalized patients between and within Waves 1 and 2 of the pandemic in Uganda differed. Different variants of COVID-19 should be studied independently.
Key lessons learnt during the fellowship
During my two years in the fellowship program, I learnt and developed the following skills:
Outbreak Investigation skills and initiation of control measures
Case investigation skills and tracing of exposures
Designing and implementing
Quality Improvement Projects
Data management and analysis skills using STATA, EpiInfo and QGIS softwares an well as interpretation of results
Budgeting and accountability skills
Project design, implementation, monitoring and evaluation skills
Program evaluations
Scientific writing including Manuscripts, abstracts, and press release
Presentation skills and dissemination of findings
Networking and lobbying skills
Next Steps
With the skills and competencies gained, I hope to continue serving within the Ministry of Health or related organizations. I aspire to work to realization of improved health for key and priority populations and prompt response to public health emergencies and threats.
Pictorial
Sarah Elayete (in red) with supervisor Daniel Kadobera (blue shirt) and other fellows during the first field deployment; a Malaria outbreak investigation in Iganga District, 2021
Sarah (in photo) making an oral poster presentation at the 2022 FETP International night held virtually, April, 2022
Sarah Elayete with another fellow and the health inspector Obongi District during a food borne outbreak investigating in Obongi District, August 2021
Sarah (green dress) facilitating a training FETP-Frontline participants in Soroti City, 2022
Sarah (floral dress) orienting Village Health Teams on community tracking and reporting of immunization defaulters in Hoima District, August 2022