The National Research Repository of Uganda - NRU

Welcome to the National Research Repository of Uganda, abbreviated as "NRU". NRU was established in 2021. NRU is a collection of scholarly output by researchers from the UNCST Community, including scholarly articles and books, electronic theses and dissertations, conference proceedings, journals, technical reports and digitised library collections. It is the official Institutional Archive (IA) of UNCST.

For information about the publishers' copyright policy on archiving your articles online or in an institutional archive, visit the Sherpa Site at http://www.sherpa.ac.uk/romeo.php The site gives a summary of the permissions normally given as part of each publisher's copyright transfer agreement. If you wish to publish your research findings in the NRU, please contact NRU administrator at admin@uncst.go.ug for details. NRU operates both open access and closed access models. Access to fulltext has been restricted in adherence to the UNCST Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) and Copyrights policies.

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Africa Portal is an online repository of open access library collection with over 3,000 books, journals, and digital documents on African policy issues. This is an initiative by the Centre for International Governance Innovation (CIGI), Makerere University (MAK), and the South African Institute of International Affairs (SAIIA). Please visit the Africa Portal at http://www.africaportal.org/library.

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Books and Book Abstracts
This community contains Open Access Books and Book Abstracts
Conference Proceedings
This community contains Ugandan Conference proceedings
Institutional Annual Research Reports
This community contains consolidated Ugandan Institutional Annual Research Reports on a broad range of subjects
Institutional Repository Policies
This community contains approved and running institutional repository policies from different research institutions
IT DevOps Communinity
IT DevOps Community

Recent Submissions

Bridging the rehabilitation data gap in Uganda: A case study exploring the implementation of the WHO routine health information system – Rehabilitation module
(Elsevier Ltd, 2026-06-03)
Hasan, Md Zabir;
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Okello, Gerald;
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De Groote, Wouter ;
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Omaren, Abraham;
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Adair, Tim;
Uganda’s Health Management Information System (HMIS) has historically lacked robust, standardized data on rehabilitation and assistive technology (AT) services, limiting effective policy development and service planning. To address this gap, the Ministry of Health sought to integrate the WHO Routine Health Information System (RHIS) – Rehabilitation module into the national digital reporting platform (DHIS2). This mixed-methods explanatory case study adopted the Consolidated Framework for Implementation Research (CFIR) to examine the multi-level processes, determinants, and context influencing integration. The WHO RHIS-Rehabilitation module was integrated through stakeholder engagement, indicator consensus-building, customized tool development, and targeted capacity-building. Six core rehabilitation indicators were prioritized and launched in DHIS2 across 25 referral facilities. The process revealed persistent challenges, including infrastructure constraints, limited workforce capacity, and competing health-sector priorities. Nonetheless, substantial improvements were observed in data standardization, stakeholder engagement, and foundational digital reporting capacity for rehabilitation services. Integrating the WHO RHIS–Rehabilitation module into Uganda’s HMIS marks a significant advancement for rehabilitation information systems in resource-limited settings. Key lessons highlight the necessity of early policy alignment, ongoing capacity building, and continuous stakeholder support to sustain and expand rehabilitation data integration. This experience provides a practical pathway for strengthening rehabilitation data systems in comparable contexts. •WHO RHIS-Rehabilitation module was integrated into Uganda’s national DHIS2 system.•Six core rehabilitation indicators were prioritized from the 15 WHO indicators.•Stakeholder engagement and tailored training supported successful system reform.•Digital reporting improved rehabilitation data standardization and visibility.•Challenges included infrastructure gaps, staff shortages, and sectoral competition.
Farmer-reported biometeorological hazards and their implications for banana production in Kyabugimbi subcounty, Bushenyi district, southwestern Uganda
(Springer International Publishing, 2026-06-19)
Muruhara, Dickson;
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Byaruhanga, Ronald;
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Kagoro-Rugunda, Grace ;
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Bitariho, Robert;
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Nkurunungi, John Bosco
Banana production in Uganda is increasingly exposed to environmental and biological stressors that affect productivity and livelihood stability among smallholder farmers. Despite growing attention to climate-sensitive agriculture, there remains limited localized evidence on how farmers experience and interpret environmental hazards within banana-based production systems. This study examined farmer-reported biometeorological hazards and their perceived implications for banana production in Kyabugimbi subcounty, Bushenyi district, southwestern Uganda. A cross-sectional mixed-methods design was employed, combining household surveys with key informant interviews and contextual climate observations. Data were collected from 172 banana farmers and six key informants and analyzed using descriptive statistics and thematic analysis to characterize reported hazards, perceived impacts, and local response patterns. The findings indicate that drought was the most frequently reported hazard, followed by rainfall irregularities, wind-related disturbances, pests, and diseases. Farmers associated these stressors with reduced plantation vigor, irregular yields, moisture stress, crop damage, and increased production uncertainty. Spatial differences in hazard reporting suggest that local environmental conditions and management practices influence how production risks are experienced across the study area. The study demonstrates the value of farmer-reported knowledge in understanding environmental stress within smallholder banana systems and highlights the importance of integrating localized experiences into agricultural risk management. The findings provide contextually grounded evidence that may inform extension services and support future research combining household observations with environmental monitoring to strengthen understanding of agricultural vulnerability under variable environmental conditions.
Small-world challenges and solutions identified by mid-level managers within a decentralized healthcare system during a tuberculosis-prevention therapy rollout study: “When a big drum like the District Health Officer talks”
(Elsevier Ltd, 2026-08-02)
Johnson-Peretz, Jason;
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Christian, Canice;
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Akatukwasa, Cecilia ;
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Atwine, Fredrick;
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Kamya, Moses R.;
Decentralisation policies that devolve certain administrative and decision-making powers to local levels can pose challenges for public health and healthcare systems. For a decentralised health system to function optimally, mid-level systems must rely on tightly clustered, so-called “small-world” networks to efficiently scale-up national health campaigns and share best practices. Few studies have qualitatively tackled the mechanisms of small-world creation and their potential effects on public health promotion during centralized national campaigns in a decentralised, mid-level healthcare system tier. We conducted 23 in-depth interviews and six focus group discussions with mid-level healthcare managers during a cluster-randomised trial from 2019 to 2021, whose intervention component aimed to increase isoniazid preventive therapy (IPT) uptake and prevent tuberculosis among people living with HIV in Uganda. The intervention consisted of 8 mini-collaborative meetings where intervention clusters received management and skills-based training and shared results with other district managers. We used a thematic analysis technique to identify key challenges stemming from the decentralised nature of the healthcare system and pinpoint the mechanisms and conceptual tools by which intervention groups overcame these challenges. Training management and leadership skills in mini-collaboratives promoted mid-level manager agency to address several drawbacks associated with the decentralisation of healthcare systems through what we call ‘horizontal accountability’. Improving communication as a group, intervention participants encouraged teamwork in their districts, developed bridging ties with other districts and built a denser cluster of networks. Pairing transparency with a sense of reciprocal accountability moving in multiple directions, upwards to the Ministry of Health (MoH), downwards towards local communities, and horizontally towards peers, fostered the creation of small-world networks and improved information flows within a decentralised healthcare context. Increased collaboration demonstrably strengthened the clustering of small-world network ties at a horizontal level, more quickly disseminating best practices through collegial competition, sustaining the uptake of IPT while ensuring accountability to peers, the MoH, and local communities. Trial registration. NCT03315962. Registered 20 October, 2017.
Developing small town Uganda: diverse aspirations, capabilities and lived experiences of residents
(BioMed Central, 2026-06-24)
Kigundu Nagawa, Patricia;
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Mackay, Heather;
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Isolo Mukwaya, Paul ;
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Mugagga, Frank
Abstract This study examines the experiences of residents in seven small but rapidly growing towns in Uganda, an understudied scale of urbanisation in Sub-Saharan Africa. Drawing on extensive household survey and focus group data, we apply the aspirations–capabilities framework to explore how diverse residents navigated the contexts, with differentiated outcomes. Experiences of urban change are not homogeneous. Residents who had moved to the towns from rural areas sought employment but tended to remain in precarious circumstances. Urban-origin in-migrants were more educated and female and sought a better-quality life and they were reaping more benefit from town developments. Lifelong residents shared some of the challenges of rural migrants but could also engage their networks and home ownership and land ownership to benefit from how urban Uganda has been developing. Local discourses around urban growth and in-migration were more positive than official control narratives in the country have been. Residents portrayed in-migration as bringing new ideas, jobs, and an increase in urban services and facilities. Yet residents also noted that growth in population did not always equate to improved quality, with concerns about privatisation limiting inclusivity. Policy implications stress the need to move beyond a numbers-focused approach to urban growth. Insights are relevant not only for Uganda but also for other fast-growing African towns facing similar challenges in how to support an inclusive development.
Ebola virus disease at the human–animal–environment interface: a scoping review of recent outbreaks, transmission dynamics, and future preventive strategies
(Springer Berlin Heidelberg, 2026-08-06)
Sannathimmappa, Mohan Bilikallahalli;
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Nambiar, Vinod
BackgroundEbola Virus Disease (EVD) remains among the most lethal zoonotic hemorrhagic fevers, with case fatality rates (CFRs) of 25% to over 90%. Since 2018, successive major outbreaks; the 10th Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) epidemic (2018–2020), the 2021 Guinea resurgence, the Uganda Sudan ebolavirus outbreaks (2022, 2025), the 16th DRC (Kasai) outbreak (2025), and the 2026 Bundibugyo virus emergency declared a Public Health Emergency of International Concern have claimed thousands of lives, underscoring EVD’s persistent threat at the human–animal–environment interface and critical preparedness gaps.ObjectivesThis scoping review synthesizes recent evidence on EVD outbreak dynamics, zoonotic transmission, genomic epidemiology, therapeutic and vaccine developments, and the sociocultural and ecological drivers of outbreaks.MethodsFollowing PRISMA-ScR, we searched PubMed, Embase, Cochrane Library, Web of Science, and Google Scholar (inception to May 2026), supplemented by WHO outbreak reports. Fifty eligible sources were included, over 90% published 2018–2026.ResultsThe DRC 10th outbreak (3,470 cases; CFR 66.2%) was exacerbated by armed conflict, nosocomial transmission, and community resistance. The 2021 Guinea resurgence was genetically linked to a 2014–2016 survivor, revealing viral persistence in immune-privileged tissues. The 2022 Uganda outbreak (164 cases; CFR 46.3%) highlighted super-spreading and inadequate infection control at private facilities. Frugivorous Pteropodidae bats remain the likely reservoir. Approved monoclonal antibodies Inmazeb and Ebanga showed 28-day mortality of 33.5% and 35.1% versus 49.7% for ZMapp; rVSV-ZEBOV protects against Zaire but not Sudan ebolavirus. Recent events reinforced these themes: 2025 Uganda (14 cases; CFR 29%) saw the first SUDV ring-vaccination trial; 2025 DRC-Kasai (64 cases; CFR 70.3%) was contained within ~ 3 months; and 2026 Bundibugyo again exposed absent countermeasures for non-Zaire species.ConclusionIntegrated One Health surveillance, equitable therapeutic and vaccine access, community engagement, and genomic epidemiology must anchor future EVD prevention. Urgent investment in Sudan ebolavirus vaccines and outbreak-resilient health systems is essential.This is the first comprehensive scoping review to integrate evidence from all three major post-2018 EVD outbreaks namely the DRC 10th epidemic, the 2021 Guinea resurgence, and the 2022 Uganda Sudan ebolavirus outbreak within a unified One Health framework.We provide a novel synthesis of genomic epidemiology alongside clinical, ecological, and sociocultural transmission determinants, bridging the gap between laboratory science and public health practice.The review critically appraises FDA-approved therapeutics (Inmazeb, Ebanga) and vaccine strategies (rVSV-ZEBOV) within the context of ongoing outbreaks caused by non-Zaire ebolaviruses for which no approved medical countermeasures currently exist.Our analysis highlights the paradigm-shifting finding that EVD can re-emerge years after an epidemic through persistence of Zaire ebolavirus in survivor immune-privileged tissues, with direct implications for long-term surveillance policies. Health & Medical Collection (Module)