Shaban Senyange

Shaban Senyange

Bsc. Wildlife Health and management, Msc. Safety, Health and Environment
Email: shabanbinhasan@gmail.com, ssenyange@musph.ac.ug
Telephone: +256 758 990 988/+256 774 65

Host Site: Department of Integrated Epidemiology, Surveillance & Public health emergencies

Host Mentor: Dr. Freda Loy Aceng, Dr. Stella Lunkuse

ABOUT THE FELLOW

Shaban Senyange, self-proclaimed #Nature-Boy is an Award-winning Wildlife Health and Conservation Media Specialist. He holds a master’s degree in Occupational Health, Safety and Environment with a background in Wildlife Health and Management. Before joining the fellowship, Shaban paired his dedication towards wildlife conservation and passion for media to create TV Show “ECO-ZONE” that seeks to create awareness about wildlife conservation through travel, and worked with several organizations at the forefront of biodiversity and environmental conservation. Shaban has a keen interest in the human-wildlife, particularly the implementation of the One Health approach to public health.

During the two-year training in service fellowship, Shaban has grown an appreciation of the importance of several statistical methods and research designs in field epidemiology and public health interventions. He has gained vast knowledge and skills and hands on experience in outbreak investigations, emergency preparedness and response, project management and planning, public health surveillance, scientific writing, large database management and analysis, presentation and public speaking skills, leadership skills and capacity building. Additionally, Shaban is particularly proud of the improvement in his research skills, and data analysis (Epi Info and STATA) and GIS mapping.

Shaban led 2 outbreak investigation and participated in 9 other outbreaks and public health emergencies. He implemented several projects including a quality improvement project, an HIV project, a descriptive analysis of surveillance data, and an epidemiological study, among others. He has published newspaper articles, published a bulletin article and written manuscripts.

  Achievements at the Host Site

I was attached to the Department of Integrated Epidemiology, Surveillance and Public Health Emergencies, Ministry of Health. I worked within the department to support surveillance, preparedness, detection and response to priority diseases, conditions and events in the country. In addition, offered support to improve IHR/IDSR capacity including disease reporting mechanisms, participate in timely investigation of disease outbreaks and a number of projects and activities including but not limited to:

• • Supported production of the weekly epidemiological bulletin: Participated in publishing summaries of weekly national surveillance data that monitors the occurrence and trends of national priority diseases, conditions and events, contributed to data analysis, report writing and editing of articles that are published in the bulletin.
  • Participated in the third Edition of the Integrated Diseases Surveillance and Response (IDSR) national training of trainers, March 2021: A pool of 50 national trainers was trained and provided input for further revision into the current drafts of IDSR technical guidelines and Training.
  • Contributed to the Integrated Disease Surveillance and Response Needs Assessment concept: It was imperative to conduct a needs assessment to identify the system challenges and provide baseline data for monitoring the implementation of 3rd edition of IDSR.
  • Assessment of preparedness of border districts to respond to plaque in West Nile and Albertine Region. August, 2021. I was part of the national rapid response team that was constituted to define risk in 6 districts; Koboko, Maracha, Arua, Zombo, Nebbi and Pakwach, and assess their capacity to respond to plaque.
  • I moderated sessions on the first day of the Integrated Disease Surveillance and Response (IDSR) Review Workshop; 26th – 27th July 2022. The purpose of the workshop was to review indicators and implementation of IDSR, third edition aimed at attainment of 100% countrywide roll out by December 2022.
  • I designed and implemented a Quality Improvement Project on Improving monthly reporting of animal disease surveillance in Kween District, Eastern Uganda.
  • Led an anthrax outbreak response and support in Kween District, October 2022.

Fellowship program specific achievements

• Led two outbreak investigations: Cholera Outbreak Investigation in Nakivale Refugee Camp, Isingiro District, 14th – 22nd November 2021

• • Anthrax outbreak in Kween District, October 2022

• Co-investigator on several other outbreak investigations and projects:
  • Malaria Outbreak Investigation in Nabitende Sub county, Iganga District, March 2021
  • Baseline survey on ITN Utilization and Ownership, Kagadi District, April 2021
  • An Epidemiological Investigation of risk Factors Associated with Malaria Deaths in 08 Districts in Uganda, January 2020 – May 2021
  • Evaluation of readiness of health facilities to deal with the 3rd wave of COVID 19 in 7 Regions in Uganda, June 2021
  • Adverse Events following COVID-19 Immunization in Kampala Metropolitan areas, June 2021
  • Assessment of preparedness of border districts to respond to plaque in West Nile and Albertine Region. August, 2021
  • Evaluating the performance of lab services in the COVID-19 response in Uganda. September, 2021
  • Evaluating the utilization of GeneXpert ultra in testing for TB in Uganda. September/October, 2021
• Conducted a descriptive analysis of surveillance data from DHIS2; “Comparison of the incidence of mental health before and during the COVID-19 pandemic in Uganda, 2018-2021”
• Conducted an epidemiological study on Knowledge, attitude and practices regarding Anthrax among affected communities in Kazo District, South-western Uganda, May – June 2021
• Conceptualized and implemented an HIV study on “Religion and associated HIV prevalence and HIV health related outcomes in Uganda
• Designed and implemented a Quality Improvement Project on Improving monthly reporting of animal disease surveillance in Kween District, Eastern Uganda
• Completed a 5-week scientific writing workshop for Public Health Bulletins by CDC (16th May – 13th June), where I enriched my skills of writing public health bulletins.

• Other activities involved in:

• • Malaria Normal Channels Training
  • Data Quality Assessment in Ntoroko, Kabarole, Kibaale, Hoima, Masindi and Kiryandongo districts
  • Follow up on the sustainability plan for withdraw of indoor residual spraying in Alebtong and Otuke

Conference presentation

• • Oral presentation at the 7th Uganda National Field Epidemiology Conference, 29th October 2021; “Investigation of Malaria Outbreak in Nabitende Subcounty, Iganga District, Uganda, March 2021”

Written communication

• Manuscripts written

• • Knowledge, Attitudes and Practices regarding Anthrax among affected communities in Kazo District, South-western Uganda, May 2022 –
  • under internal review “Comparison of the incidence of mental health before and during the COVID-19 pandemic in Uganda, 2018-2021” – under internal review Bulletin: Editor of the Uganda National Institute of Public Health (UNIPH) Quarterly Epidemiological
• Bulletin; Volume 6 Issue 3 July – September 2021
  • Published an article in Volume 7 Issue 3 July – September 2022 titled “Knowledge, Attitudes and Practices regarding Anthrax among affected communities in Kazo District, South-western Uganda, May 2022
• Newspaper articles

• • Depression, substance abuse: A silent monster amidst the COVID-19 pandemic, September 15, 2021
  • The next pandemic is already coming!!! Unless we change how we interact with wildlife – scientists warn, Nov 2021.

Summary of Epidemiological Study: 

 Title: Knowledge, Attitudes and Practices regarding Anthrax among affected communities in Kazo District, Southern Uganda, May, 2022 Background

Background:Despite health education about the risks of anthrax from eating meat from carcasses, some districts in Uganda, including Kazo District, experience repeated anthrax outbreaks associated with this risk factor. We assessed knowledge, attitudes, and practices (KAP) around anthrax in previously-affected communities in Kazo District.

Methods: We conducted a mixed-methods study in six villages in Kazo District from May 23–June 4, 2022. We administered structured questionnaires to 200 systematically-sampled community respondents aged ≥18 years about anthrax-related KAP and experiences with livestock loss. We conducted three KAP-based focus group discussions with community members identified as anthrax case-patients in previous outbreaks and those whose animals died suddenly in the previous year. We assessed overall knowledge through a set of eight questions on anthrax; species affected, signs and symptoms, transmission and prevention in humans and animals. We scored participants’ responses to KAP questions as “1” (correct) or “0” (incorrect); adequate knowledge score was ≥4. Qualitative data were analyzed using content analysis.

Results: Among respondents, 65% were female; mean age was 45 years. In total, 94% had heard of anthrax and 73% knew transmission could occur through eating meat from carcasses. Overall, 77% of respondents had adequate knowledge about anthrax. Only 16% had lost their livestock suddenly in the last year; of these, 21% consumed the meat and 53% buried the carcasses. Qualitative data indicated that farmers did not vaccinate livestock against anthrax due to cost and difficulty accessing vaccine and veterinary services. Poverty and limited access to protein were cited as drivers for consuming meat from carcasses despite the risk.

Conclusion: Good awareness about anthrax among residents of a repeatedly-affected community in Uganda did not translate to safe practices. Alternative preventive approaches, such as compensating farmers for anthrax-positive carcasses in exchange for permitting safe animal disposal, might reduce risk in high-risk communities.

Key words: Anthrax, Knowledge-attitude-practice, Kazo District, Uganda

Key lessons learnt during the fellowship

PHFP has presented an opportunity to gain hands-on learning experience in field epidemiology and public health leadership with the skills and competencies acquired from this practical experience and mentorship

• • Conducting outbreak investigations
  • Leadership skills and teamwork
  • Project design, planning, implementation, monitoring and management
  • Improved Scientific writing skills; proposals, protocols, report, abstract and manuscript writing
  • Improved my public speaking and communication skills
  • Large database management and data analysis skills especially advanced analysis with different software (Epi Info and STATA)
  • Expanded my professional network
  • Evaluating and strengthening surveillance systems

Next Steps

• • Leveraging on my knowledge, experience and skills obtained before and during the public health fellowship period, I hope to further my career in applied field epidemiology and continue working at the human-animal nexus.
  • I plan on publishing all the pending work done during the fellowship period in peer review journals.

Pictorial