Ministry of Health launches public health fellowship meant to train laboratory specialists

The programme, which was launched on Tuesday, July 25, 2023, is dubbed the Uganda Public Health Fellowship Programme — Laboratory Leadership Track and will start with six fellows.

While giving an address during the launch at Hotel Africana, the Minister of State for Primary Health Care, Margaret Muhanga, said that the programme will help in improving public health laboratory functions, which include prevention, detection, and response to infectious disease outbreaks.

She also said the programme will strengthen the national laboratory system through the networking of human, animal, and environmental health laboratories.

"The specialised training for our laboratory training comes at an opportune moment to strengthen our public health functions, which include prevention, detection, and response to infectious disease outbreaks. The programme will also strengthen the national laboratory system through the networking of human, animal, and environmental health laboratories," Muhanga said during the launch.

The minister also expressed her optimism over the programme, saying it will improve the country’s ability to obtain critical information needed to prepare for and respond to epidemics in a timely manner.

The Dean of Makerere University School of Public Health, Dr. Rhoda Wanyeze, also shares the same optimism, saying the programme will play a crucial role in training and mentoring laboratory specialists who play a key role in combating epidemics.

The Ministry of Health's Director General of Health Services, Dr. Henry Mwebesa, said the programme will equip the participants with enough leadership skills to help them execute their job in a time of crisis.

"As a laboratory technologist, you need a lot of leadership skills. When you test someone and find out they have COVID-19 or Ebola, you do not just go on social media and start causing an alarm. That is the moment your leadership skills have to guide you," he said during the launch.

The World Health Organisation (WHO) Director General, Dr. Yona Tegegn Woldermarian, emphasised the critical role laboratory specialists play in combating disease in a letter read by Uganda’s WHO team leader, Elizabeth Mugambi, who represented him at the event.

"Laboratory specialists play a critical role in the testing, prevention, and diagnosis of disease. They are very key in handling epidemics such as COVID-19. The programme will equip the specialists with the required skills to handle diseases," he said.