Uganda Public Health Fellowship Program’s Contributions to Malaria Control Programs 2015–2022: Strategies, Implementation Challenges, and Opportunities

The Uganda Public Health Fellowship Program (UPHFP) is a 2-year, non-degree-granting field epidemiology training program. It enrolls only post-Master's degree fellows, who are integrated during their training into key Ministry of Health (MOH) programs, such as the National Malaria Control Program, and supported technically and financially by the U.S. President's Malaria Initiative (PMI) and U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. However, the nature and extent of the UPHFP contributions to the malaria control programs have not been systematically documented. We describe how the UPHFP strategies contributed to malaria control programs and share implementation challenges and opportunities to inform future programming. From 2015 to 2022, UPHFP led or supported 50 malaria projects, including 14 malaria surveillance projects, 11 malaria outbreak investigations, 7 epidemiological studies, 5 case studies, 6 malaria quality improvement projects, 3 policy briefs, and 4 training and mentorship projects. These projects have informed policy decisions and strengthened surveillance, coordination, and response to malaria outbreaks. A key challenge is single-source funding that makes the program more vulnerable to changes in donor priorities. Our documentation demonstrates the critical value of UPHFP to the country's malaria control efforts by enhancing epidemiologic workforce capacity and strengthening epidemiological surveillance.