Advanced Field Epidemioloogy Fellows Cohort 2017
By the year 2019 when Cohort 2017 graduated, The Uganda Public Health Fellowship Program (PHFP) had enrolled 55 Fellows in Advanced Field Epidemiology since its inception in 2015; 11 in 2017 and the highest enrollment of 14 in 2019. Over those past 4 years, Fellows had conducted more than 90 outbreak investigations on high priority diseases of public health importance; thereby contributing to their effective management and control. They had 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 had implemented a total of 256 projects.
In addition, Fellows had made 193 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 have made significant appearances in the local media, contributing feature articles on key topics of public health importance.
The rejuvenation of the Ministry of Health Epidemiological Bulletin code named Uganda National Institute of Public Health Quarterly Epidemiological Bulletin where Fellows have participated very effectively as editors and article contributors is another tremendous achievement. Twelve volumes have so far been produced since commencement of the program four years ago. In addition, PHFP has continued to contribute to production of the Quarterly Malaria 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 scientific world. In 2019, the HIV/AIDS Program Bulletin is planned to hit the scientific and program platform waves.
By 2019, the program had produced a total of ninety two manuscripts, 67 had been submitted to reputable peer-reviewed journals; 30 of which had so far been published and the other remaining 37 had either been accepted or undergoing peer reviews at various levels.
In this report, we present to you the profiles of the Cohort 2017 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.