Measuring Performance.
Informing Policy.
Empowering Communities.

Uganda

The Makerere University School of Public Health (MakSPH) is a leading public health institution in Uganda and within the East and Central Africa region, and is one of the four Schools under Makerere University’s College of Health Sciences. MakSPH, led by Principal Investigator Dr. Fredrick Makumbi and Co-Principal Investigator Dr. Simon Peter Kibira, completed six rounds of the PMA2020 family planning survey in Uganda between 2014 and 2018. 

In collaboration with the Guttmacher Institute, questions related to the implementation of the Global Gag Rule were added in 2018 and a separate follow-up survey was conducted a year later. In collaboration with FHI-360, questions on contraceptive acceptability were added to the family planning survey in 2016. 

 

 MakSPH completed two rounds of the PMA Schistosomiasis survey in 2016 and 2017 to measure schistosomiasis infections via urine testing in the field. The 2017 survey also included a follow-up to measure infection status among those treated a year earlier. This was one of the first nationally representative surveys of schistosomiasis anywhere in the world.  

 

In collaboration with Ariadne Lab Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, one round of the PMA Primary Health Care (PHC) survey was completed in 2019 to measure general health seeking behaviors. 

Uganda was one of three sites for development of the Womens’ and Girls’ Empowerment module. 

 

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For more on the studies in Uganda:

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Survey Results Summaries

PMA uses innovative mobile technology to support low-cost, rapid-turnaround surveys monitoring key health and development indicators. Surveys are completed by resident enumerators, uploaded to a central server via a mobile data network, cleaned and analyzed. Results are disseminated shortly after.

Technical Area Survey Results Brief Indicators Report
Primary Health Care PMA PHC Uganda Dissemination Brief English
Family Planning PMA2020, Round 2, 2015 English
Family Planning PMA2020, Round 6, 2018 English English
Adolescent & Young Adults PMA2020, Round 6, 2018 English
Water, Sanitation, & Hygiene PMA2020, Round 5, 2017 English
Menstrual Hygiene Management PMA2020, Round 5, 2017 English
Adolescent & Young Adults PMA2020, Round 5, 2017 English
Family Planning PMA2020, Round 5, 2017 English English
Family Planning PMA2020, Round 4, 2016 English English
Water, Sanitation, & Hygiene PMA2020, Round 3, 2015 English

Snapshot of Indicators 

Snapshot of Indicators (SOIs) are online tables  that provide a summary of key family planning indicators and information on sample design, questionnaires, data processing, response rates and sample error estimates.

View indicators for Uganda by round

 

Research in Uganda

20.5%

of women reported an unmet need for family planning in 2018, down from 25.4% in 2013.

Woman looking at phone
RE and focal point in field
RE at training with mask
Uganda REs

Publications

PMA has a variety of publications including briefs, reports and overview documents  that may be used to inform health policy and programming decisions. Listed below are publications authored by PMA faculty, students, staff, and partners that draw upon PMA data. 

For a full list of publications that use PMA data, please visit our Google Scholars page.

Partner Institution

MakSPH logo

Makerere University School of Public Health

Makerere University School of Public Health (MakSPH) is a leading public health institution in Uganda and within the East and Central Africa region. MakSPH is one of the four Schools under Makerere University’s College of Health Sciences. The school has four departments of; Health Policy, Planning and Management, Community Health and Behavioural Sciences, Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Disease Control and Environmental Health.
MakSPH strives to be a centre of excellence providing leadership in Public Health. Its  mission is to promote the attainment of better health for the people of Uganda and beyond through Public Health Training, Research and Community service, with the guiding principles of Quality, Relevance, Responsiveness, Equity and Social Justice.
The School offers various academic programmes including a PhD;  Master’s degrees in Public Health, Health Services Research,  Health Nutrition,  Disaster Management, Health Informatics, Monitoring and Evaluation; a Bachelor of Environmental Health Science, and a Certificate in Health Services Management. 

MakSPH has several research projects and through this work, has created a vibrant innovation environment developing solutions that have benefitted hundreds of communities over the years, contributed to the development and enactment of several public health legislation and regulations in Uganda and beyond, built a large network of universities in Africa working on several research and development projects. The staff contribute to knowledge generation through over 130 publications, annually. From participating in disease outbreak investigations and disaster management to implementation research in health facilities and communities across Uganda and Africa, MakSPH contribution to society is invaluable.

Makerere University School of Public Health

Principal Investigator

Dr Fredrick Makumbi

Fredrick Makumbi, MHS, PhD

Dr. Fredrick Makumbi is an Associate Professor and Deputy Dean at Makerere University School of Public health. He trained as an epidemiologist, statistician and demographer, and received MHS and PhD degrees from the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health in 2000 and 2004, respectively.He has a special focus on Data Management and Statistical analysis with extensive community-based research experience in randomized trials and longitudinal studies related to HIV interventions, accrued over a two-decade affiliation with the Rakai Health Sciences program. He has also conducted research on the impact of Anti-Retroviral Therapy (ART) on HIV prevention and survival, as well as the effect of ART on reproductive health behaviors; coordinated and managed large databases as well as handled critical statistical analyses on various research studies including as the primary trial statistician on randomized trials of male circumcision and acyclovir prophylaxis. He has utilized national level datasets from Health Management Information System (HMIS) and demographic and Health Survey data to identify fertility hotspots in Uganda in order to improve family planning services. Dr. Makumbi is a member of ethical review committees at the Uganda Virus Research Institute, the National AIDS Research Committee and the MakSPH Research and Ethics Committee, and a member of the Safety Monitoring Team of the Safe Male Circumcision Program in the Ministry of Health. He has also conducted international training in data management and statistical analysis through the International Atomic Energy Agency Seychelles, Ministry of health, Family Health & Nutrition Unit and the Botswana National Food Technology Research Center in Epidemiology & Biostatistics.
 

Co-Principal Investigator

Simon Peter Sebina Kibira, MSc, PhD

Simon Peter Sebina Kibira, MSc, PhD

Dr. Kibira is a Lecturer at the Department of Community Health and Behavioural Sciences, School of Public Health at Makerere University (MakSPH). He holds a PhD in International Health from the University of Bergen, Norway. He obtained his Master of Science in Population and Reproductive Health and Bachelor's degree in Social Sciences from Makerere University. He is a Demographic and Health Survey (DHS) program fellow in population and health. Simon has over 14 years’ experience in conducting, supervising, coordinating and managing research activities at different levels, and facilitating learning in both academic and non-academic settings.  He has research interests in sexual and reproductive health among men, women and adolescents, social and behavioural determinants of disease and health, especially using qualitative methods. He is a certified international professional trainer for atlas.ti. His work with PMA builds on experience from working with the Uganda Bureau of Statistics under the DHS in Uganda since 2006. His recent works in family planning involved being a lead qualitative investigator to identify fertility hotspots in Uganda to inform context specific family planning programs for the USAID Advancing partner and communities project (APC), and developed how to guide from the same for other programs to adopt. Dr. Kibira also serves as the Secretary of the Research and Ethics Committee at MakSPH.

Senior Data Manager and Analyst

Uganda_Ronald Ssenyonga

Ronald Ssenyonga

Ronald is a research associate at the Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, School of Public Health, College of Health Sciences at Makerere University. As the Senior Data Manager and Analyst for PMA Uganda, he leads the data management, analysis and IT team. He holds a Bachelor of Statistics and Masters in Clinical Epidemiology and Biostatistics. Ronald’s research interests cut across various disciplines from disease modelling in HIV and TB, increasing community engagement in HIV/AIDS clinical trials, adolescent health, sexual and reproductive health and a new found love for investigating how to improve people’s abilities to appraise claims about effects of health interventions to make better health choices. For over 10 years now, he has worked on both clinical trials and contributed to national and regional surveys on varying health challenges like monitoring Family Planning use, TB, mHealth in HIV, Cryptococcal meningitis, Hepatitis, Schistosomiasis, Primary Health Care, Epilepsy among others. 

Field Study Coordinator

Uganda_Victor Guma

Victor Guma

Victor is the Field study coordinator at PMA Uganda. He holds a Bachelors in Community Psychology and an MSc. Clinical Psychology from Makerere University. He has 15-years experience in conducting, supervising and coordinating different research activities. His research interests are in mental health amongst youth with a bias on drug abuse. Victor also has interest in qualitative research in social behavioural studies.           

IT Specialist

Uganda_Samuel Kagongwe

Samuel Kagongwe

Samuel is the IT Specialist/ ODK programmer for PMA Uganda. He is a creative and resourceful person with strengths in programming and networking. He holds a Diploma in Infrastructure Management Services from Saipali Institute of Technology and Management and is currently pursuing a Bachelors Degree in Information Technology at Makerere University. Over the years, Samuel has gathered experience in research spanning over 10 years taking on roles in data collection, supervision, programming tools and has taken on data management responsibilities on various projects at Makerere School of Public Health such as the BCG vaccine and Chlorhexidine (CHX) clinical trials, among others.

Data Manager

Uganda_Vivian Zalwango

Vivian Zalwango Mubiru

Vivian is the Data Manager with PMA Uganda at the School of Public Health, College of Health Sciences at Makerere University. She holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Social Sciences, a Master of Health Services Research and a Post Graduate Diploma in Information Technology from Makerere University. She has extensive professional experience in data management, monitoring and analysis.

Data Analyst

Uganda_Mary Nakafeero

Mary Nakafeero

Mary is the Data Analyst with PMA Uganda. She holds a Bachelors Degree in Quantitative Economics from Makerere University and a Masters Degree in Biostatistics from Hasselt University, Belgium. Mary also works as the Academic Administrator for the Master of Biostatistics program at Makerere University. Her interests largely lie in data management and statical analysis.  She has experience in conducting community surveys, clinical trials, data management and analysis spanning close to 10 years. Her current interests are in reproductive health with special focus on adolescent health.

Logistics Coordinator

Uganda_Mabel Luzze

Mabel Luzze

Mabel is the Logistic Coordinator with PMA Uganda at the School of Public Health, College of Health Sciences at Makerere University. She holds a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Education and a Masters in Counselling from Makerere University. She has 20 years’ experience working in research and 6 years in logistics management. 

Communications Officer

Melody Kukundakwe

Melody Kukundakwe

Melody is the Communications Officer with PMA Uganda at the School of Public Health, College of Health Sciences at Makerere University. She has vast experience working in the field of Cooperate and Development Communications, coordinating the development, implementation and review of efficient communication strategies for humanitarian, health and environmental initiatives. Melody holds a Master’s Degree in Public Health Leadership and a Bachelor’s Degree in Mass Communication from Uganda Christian University.  Her interests are inclined to Health Communication with a bias towards Maternal and Child Health.

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