Debrief about the Uganda National Institute of Public Health

The Uganda National Institute of Public Health (UNIPH) is a science based government organization within the Ministry of Health (MoH) that serves as a focal point for the country’s leadership, expertise and coordination to address public health concerns in line with global health security requirements.

The Uganda Ministry of Health established the UNIPH in collaboration with key partners notably US CDC, WHO, Makerere University School of Public Health amongst others, to create expertise, information, and tools that people and communities need to protect their health by focusing on;

1. Developing surveillance networks for the detection, control and prevention of disease,
2. Developing the required national reference laboratory capacity,
3. Leading and coordinating response efforts,
4. Developing and implementing evidence-based public health guidelines and programs, and
5. Strengthening public health systems through focusing investments into critical public health institutions and their associated functions.

As the center of gravity for public health leadership and excellence, the NIPH focuses on protecting people’s health by conducting infectious and non-infectious disease surveillance, responding to disease outbreaks and public health emergencies, and strengthening prevention activities and health promotion.

The cornerstones in the NIPH are:

• To fulfill the function as a centre of excellence concerning evidence-based methods for population health interventions and to render support to local, regional and national authorities, so as to facilitate their actions from a multi-sectoral perspective on public health;
• To monitor and evaluate the attainment of the national public health goals and report to the Top Management of MoH and To generate precise and current reference knowledge for the formulation, implementation and evaluation of health research policy on national and regional levels.
• To enable it achieve the above, the institute is structured into 6 departments namely: Disease Epidemiology and Surveillance (DES); Emergency Operations Centre (EOC); Health Information Services (HIS); National Health Laboratory (NHL); Public Health Fellowship Programme (PHFP); and Research and Development (R&D).

The UNIPH Quarterly Epidemiological Bulletin will showcase the precise functional achievements of the institute by demonstrating outbreak investigations findings and public health actions taken, studies conducted to provide evidence for policy and decision making and epidemiological data of importance nationally and globally. This is the 1st edition of the bulletin with very enriching reading. Enjoy the reading.

Dr. Jane Ruth Aceng,

Director General Health Service