By the year 2021 when Cohort 2019 graduated, The Uganda Public Health Fellowship Program (PHFP) had enrolled 80 Fellows in Advanced Field Epidemiology since its inception in 2015; with the highest ever enrollment of 14 in 2021. Over those past 6 years, Fellows conducted over 110 outbreak investigations most of them on high priority diseases of public health importance; thereby contributing to their effective management and control. They also analyzed public health surveillance data and conducted evaluation of public health surveillance systems with the aim of improving detection of disease epidemic alerts and prompting early response. Within this short span, Fellows implemented several projects.
In addition, Fellows made numerous presentations at national and international conferences, winning six awards including the prestigious CDC Director‟s Award for Excellence in Public Health and Response at the 2017 EIS conference. Fellows made significant appearances in the local media, contributing feature articles on key topics of public health importance.
The publication of the Uganda Public Health Bulletin, where Fellows participated very effectively as editors and article contributors was another tremendous achievement. Twenty volumes were by then produced since commencement of the program six years ago (2015-2021).
In addition, PHFP continued to contribute to the production of the Malaria Quarterly Bulletin as well as initiating three completely novel bulletins i.e. Neglected Tropical Diseases Bulletin, National TB and Leprosy Program Bulletin and Non Communicable Diseases Bulletin, where the fellows and other MoH epidemiologists and officers publish valuable public health information for consumption by the public and the scientific world.
The program by 2021 produced over 100 manuscripts, submitted to reputable peer-reviewed journals; 45 of which have so far been published and the other remaining ones have either been accepted or undergoing peer reviews at various levels.
In this report, we present to you the profiles of Cohort 2019 Fellows and their achievements over the two-year period of training in service while placed within priority programs or institutions of the Ministry of Health.