Lab Matters Summer 2025 | Page 34

GLOBAL HEALTH

By Samuel Gidudu, Msc. MLS, Laboratory Leadership Program Coordinator, Uganda National Institute of Public Health; Alex Riolexus Ario, PhD, Uganda Public Health Fellowship Program Director, Uganda National Institute of Public Health; and Jocelyn Isadore, MPH, manager Global Health has been a tendency for laboratory FETP graduates to transition into epidemiology roles, leaving gaps in the laboratory sector. Uganda’ s model tackles this by creating a laboratory-focused leadership program that fosters workforce retention, promotes collaboration between laboratory and epidemiology teams and enhances response to public health outbreaks through laboratory collaboration with FETP.

Mbwabwa Emmanuel, laboratory professional in Kyotera district, and Winnie Agwang, Cohort 2024 laboratory leadership fellow, develop an Anthrax laboratory outbreak database in December 2024. Photo: David Kyobe.

In response to growing health threats, there is an increasing demand for skilled laboratory leaders who can navigate complex laboratory environments. The Global Laboratory Leadership Programme( GLLP) addresses this need by focusing on workforce development and strengthening laboratory systems. With a One Health approach, the program aims to enhance global health security by equipping laboratory leaders with the competencies to manage health crises and build resilient national laboratory systems.

A model implementation of the GLLP is in Uganda, where, with technical assistance from APHL and financial support from US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Makerere School of Public Health and Baylor Foundation Uganda, it was integrated into the Uganda Public Health Fellowship Program— a program implemented by the Uganda National Institute of Public Health in the Ministry of Health. This model fully embraces GLLP’ s core values of ownership and sustainability. Launched in 2023, the Laboratory Leadership Program( LLP) is a two-year, postmaster’ s, non-degree-granting program.

It combines didactic sessions, fieldwork, project-based learning, mentorship and community-building activities to develop leaders who can address public health laboratory system challenges and work collaboratively with other health professionals, especially epidemiologists.

A key feature of Uganda’ s LLP is its coordination with the Field Epidemiology Training Program( FETP), which has traditionally focused on developing public health experts in epidemiology. Although some FETPs have historically included laboratory personnel, there

A Collaborative Approach to Outbreak Response

The success of the LLP is evident in its role in responding to health emergencies, such as the recent Ebola outbreak in Uganda. Working collaboratively with FETP epidemiologists, laboratory leadership fellows provided vital support to the response efforts and were instrumental in several key activities that contributed to the effective management of the outbreak:

• Establishing Subnational Laboratory Rapid Response Mechanisms. Fellows set up structures at subnational levels to ensure rapid outbreak management. This was through functionalizing the subnational laboratory pillar and the laboratory rapid response team.

Cohort 2024 laboratory leadership fellow and Cohort 2023 field epidemiology fellows attend a cholera outbreak rapid response team meeting in Adjumani, Uganda on February 2024. Photo: Drichi Wilson Tokwinyi.