Health minister commends ICHAD for promoting children, adolescents' welfare

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KAMPALA - The Minister of Health, Dr. Jane Ruth Aceng, has commended the International Centre for Child Health and Development (ICHAD) for focusing their work on promoting children and adolescents who constitute over 50 percent of Uganda’s population.

She said such a huge population of ages between zero and 17 in Uganda is so vulnerable and affected by poverty and lack of education and skills.

The minister was reacting to comments by Prof. Fred Ssewamala, the founding director of ICHAD during the signing of a tripartite Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between the Ministry of Health, on behalf of the Government of Uganda, ICHAD and AfriChild Centre at the ministry headquarters in Wandegeya on Friday, June 28, 2024.

The International Centre for Child Health and Development (ICHAD) and Ministry of Health officials sign a pact at ministry headquarters in Kampala. (Credit: Nancy Namyonga)

Prof. Ssewamala, by the display of the New Vision leading headline that indicated that over 50% of Uganda’s population was below 17 years old, said that the organization was majorly focusing on supporting the welfare of the young generation, mainly children and adolescents.

“We are doing capacity building for the country and our programs look at how to train young researchers and young policymakers on how to implement policies and programs that affect young people, children and adolescents,” he said, adding that for the last about 30 years he has been working in the United States, he has been figuring out how to bring resources to his country Uganda.

The five-year initiative intends to curb the knowledge gap of players in the health sector dealing with matters relating to child health and youths. (Credit: Eddie Ssejjoba)

“And for this particular MOU, our second component is looking at how we can partner with the Ministry of Health for us to be able to take ministry officials for further education and additional training within the US and Uganda,” he said.

The MOU, whose implementation is undertaken by the Ministry of Health
and ICHAD, which Washington University funds, seals a joint research intervention for health practitioners to train youth and child health policies to improve access and initialise health services in Uganda.

The five-year initiative intends to curb the knowledge gap of players in the health sector dealing with matters relating to child health and youths.

According to the minister, the most important aspect of Uganda’s new population structure is the ‘huge number of a population that is so young’. (Credit: Eddie Ssejjoba)

The researchers involved will guide the government in its health programming initiatives.

“You have done valuable and important work, just listening to your presentation, this is very comforting and brings a wealth of importance to the work we do at the ministry,” the minister said.

According to the minister, the most important aspect of Uganda’s new population structure is the ‘huge number of a population that is so young’.

“You know the vulnerabilities and challenges, (of the young population) and when it is compounded by poverty, and what the parents are experiencing currently,” she said.

Prof. Ssewamala in a separate interview told reporters that their target was to be as responsive to people’s needs as possible. (Credit: Eddie Ssejjoba)

The minister said that Uganda as a country is still at the lower middle-income level, where not everybody who goes to school is able to complete her or his education, adding that the number is low.

“For example, about 1.8m children who enrol in school not more than 200,000 are able to sit for Senior Six, you wonder what happens to the rest, and that is why your work is critical,” she explained.

The minister said the country would not hide its head in the sand but say many children do not go to school, yet the Government started Universal Primary Education (UPE) and Universal Secondary Education, (USE) but if the programs were fully living up to its universality, all who enrol would finish their education.

She told the ICHAD and AfriChild Centre teams that she was amazed at
the number of projects going on, adding that the work they do for the country is commendable.

“And thank you Africhild for partnering with nine universities now, and the number is still growing,”, she noted, adding that she was excited to sign the MOU.

Prof. Ssewamala shows a copy of the New Vision with a lead story indicating that the recent census revealed that 50 percent of Ugandans are below 17 years. (Credit: Eddie Ssejjoba)

“We are looking at a collaboration that will stand the test of time and add value to the lives of the children of Uganda, but also in terms of capacity building,” she said.

The minister told her staff that they must not miss out on the training opportunities for Masters and PhD courses that have been offered by ICHAD, “This is an opportunity that should not be missed, it has been offered to us, and there is a need to utilize and build our capacity”.

She commended Prof. Ssewamala for focusing on policy, saying that the Ministry of Health plans every year, to implement and is supposed to survey to assess themselves but they do not get the opportunity to do so.

“It is good to have a breath of fresh air and reflect on fresh data that comes in for us to inform policy. It is not just an MOU signing, it is a collaboration that will grow stronger, even when we are not here, we would like to see that it grows and continues with the young generation”, the minister noted.

Prof. Ssewamala in a separate interview told reporters that their target was to be as responsive to people’s needs as possible.

“And the MOU we have just signed gives us this flexibility, whereby Washington University will be able to partner with Ministry of Health and come up with programs that are fit for Uganda in terms of training,” he told reporters, adding that they were looking initially for five years.

Prof. Ssewamala greets the Minister of Health Dr. Jane Ruth Aceng. (Credit: Nancy Nanyonga)

He added “We don’t have a monetary value that we want to attach to that (training of researchers), but education is extremely expensive,” he said, adding that for Master’s Program, costs a minimum of $100,000 for the two-year program in tuition, and a PhD course is way much more, because they pay for tuition, and a living allowance.

“Those are the things that we will be engaged in, the number of beneficiaries will depend on how much the ministry can mobilize.

Timothy Opobo, the executive director of Africhild Centre said that they were pleased that the MOU is geared towards improving child, and adolescent health and nutrition in the country.

“This will go a long way in improving health in the country. Our partnership will include collaborating in identifying areas for research, developing research proposals, and implementing joint evidence-based research projects,” he said.

He added that AfriChild Centre would actively contribute to the identification of research areas, leveraging its expertise and knowledge of local and contextual challenges.

He noted, “We shall work closely with the Ministry of Health and ICHAD to develop research proposals and implement collaborative research projects. Under our new partnership with the Ministry of Health, on behalf of the Government of Uganda, we shall co-develop and support capacity-building programs and healthcare professionals in conjunction with Washington University and ICHAD.”

He said they were ‘thrilled to announce this new partnership that focuses on joint research, capacity building, and resource mobilization to improve child health outcomes’.