MAKERERE UNIVERSITY
63rd GRADUATION BOOKLET
The Principal, College of Health Sciences to present the following for the
Conferment of the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy (Public Health)
BATWALA Kiirya Vincent
“Parasite-based diagnosis for malaria in Uganda: Feasibility and Cost-effectiveness”
Dr. Vincent Kiirya Batwala investigated on parasite-based diagnosis for malaria; with the aim of improving the management of febrile illnesses which are the major killers in Uganda. The accuracy; feasibility and cost-effectiveness of different diagnostic methods were tested including microscopy; rapid diagnostic tests that are based on the detection of histidine rich protein-2 produced by Plasmodium falciparum; and polymerase chain reaction that detects ribosomal DNA with the high quality control exhibited. Vincent Batwala’s research found out that rapid diagnostic tests for malaria are more accurate, feasible and cost-effective compared to microscopy; and recommends that the use of rapid diagnostic tests should be scaled-up in areas where malaria is a common cause of fever. Funders: DBL Centre for Health Research and Development, University of Copenhagen, Denmark; TAEGETS Makerere University School of Public Health/Department for International Development (DFID) project; and Belgian Technical Cooperation (BTC). Supervisors: Prof. Fred Nuwaha; Prof. Pascal Magnussen; and Dr. Kristian Schultz Hansen.
Conferment of the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy (Public Health)
KAGIMU Magid
“The interrelationship between religiosity and HIV infections in Uganda: A Community Case Study”
Dr. Kagimu examined the association between religiosity and HIV prevalence rates in a case-control study. The cases were HIV positive youth 15-24 years and the controls were HIV negative youth. He discovered that higher levels of religiosity were associated with lower HIV infection rates. Among Christians, praying privately frequently, was the most significant dimension associated with lower HIV infection rates. Among Muslims, those with Sujda, the black spot on the forehead as a result of prostration during regular prayers, had lower HIV infection rates. He concluded that religiosity, especially the dimensions that were significantly associated with lower HIV infection rates, should be scaled up by all stakeholders involved in implementing faith-based HIV prevention interventions. The study was supervised by Assoc. Prof David Guwatudde, Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics and Prof Charles Rwabukwali, Department of Sociology.
Conferment of the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy (Public Health)
WAISWA Peter Kyobe
“Understanding Newborn Care in Uganda - Towards Future Interventions”
Peter Waiswa investigated the delays which lead to newborn deaths, and the acceptability at community level of the evidence-based newborn care practices in eastern Uganda. He found that whereas most globally recommended newborn care practices were acceptable to the local community, a few were not. Also, care practices for newborn babies were of poor quality, and most babies died because of delays at home related to inability of households to recognise sick newborns or deciding to seek for care from a health facility, or health facilities lacked capacity to care for newborn babies. Comprehensive health facility strengthening and use of community health workers to promote newborn care is recommended. The findings informed the Uganda national Community Health Worker (in the Village Health Team (VHT)) policy. Funding: SIDA, Save the Children and the Bill Gates Foundation. Supervisors: Ass. Prof. George W Pariyo (MaK), and Prof. Goran Tomson and Prof. Stefan .S. Peterson (both Karolinska).
The Principal, College of Veterinary Medicine, Animal Resources and Biosecurity to present the following for the
Conferment of the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy (Veterinary Medicine)
ADEMUN Rose Okurut (Ms)
“Effect of foot and mouth disease (FMD) in cattle on household income in selected agropastoral and pastoral areas of Uganda
Dr. Ademun focused on justifying the control of FMD and determining the effect of FMD on household incomes, cattle and crop production, delivery of social amenities, and cattle market revenues in four districts: Katakwi, Kumi, Bukedea and Kiruhura. This study found a high economic cost of FMD of between USD90 to USD400 per household in eastern districts of which over 50% was due to losses in draught power, FMD affected 40% of social amenities delivery in these agropastoral districts, but only 0.01% in Kiruhura district due to continued cattle sales during quarantine. The agropastoral districts lost 66% to 88% of cattle market revenues during FMD quarantine. FMD vaccinations cost USD2.64 per head of cattle but would save agropastoral households about 2 times the cattle enterprise profitability and 3.9 times in Kiruhura. The effect of FMD was much felt in agropastoral areas. Uganda needs an appropriate
Conferment of the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy (Veterinary Medicine)
OKUNI Julius Boniface
‘Molecular and Pathologic diagnosis of paratuberculosis in cattle from selected districts of central Uganda’
Dr. Okuni focused on improving the diagnosis of bovine paratuberculosis, an economically important disease of livestock. The highlights of this study included: the determination of the prevalence of this disease at farm level as well as among slaughtered cattle, the characterisation of the pathogen and its specific effects on affected cattle; and the development of an immuno-histo-chemical method based on recombinant Heat shock protein 70kd, used for the first time ever in the diagnosis of this disease. The study found that the level of the disease is unexpectedly high for a country with limited documentation of its occurrence, moreover high strain diversity of the agent of paratuberculosis, including novel ones imply that this disease might have a complex epidemiology in the country. The supervisors were Professors Ojok Lonzy (MAK), Reinacher Manfreid (Justus-Liebig, Giessen) and Dr. Loukopoulos Panayiotis (A.U.Th), with support from Carnegie, SGS-MAK and Aristotle University of Thessaloniki.
Conferment of the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy (Veterinary Medicine)
SSEMWANGA Deogratius
“Multiple HIV-1 Subtype Infection and Transmitted Drug Resistance; Prevalence in HIV-1 Infected Ugandans and Association to Disease Stage and Progression"
Mr. Ssemwanga investigated how often HIV-1 positive individuals get re-infected with other HIV-1 types and how this affects their disease progression to AIDS and death. The study also investigated how often people get infected with drug resistant HIV-1. HIV-1 positive patients that were re-infected with more HIV-1 types were 14% and 9 % of newly infected patients had drug resistant HIV-1. Patients that were infected with more than one HIV-1 type were found to progress faster to AIDS and death. HIV-1 positive patients should therefore avoid getting re-infected with more/other HIV-1 types using recommended prevention strategies to avoid complications like increased disease progression leading to AIDS and death. Infection with drug resistant HIV-1 limits treatment options for patients thereby complicating patient care. The study was supervised by Prof. Williamson Carolyn, Prof. Lubega George William and Prof. Kaleebu Pontiano with financial support from the British Medical Research Council.
The Principal, College of Veterinary Medicine, Animal Resources and Biosecurity to present the following for the
Conferment of the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy (Ecosystems)
AGABA Hilary
“Plant Available Water and Tree Seedling Survival in Hydrogel Amended Soils Under Induced Drought Conditions”
Mr. Agaba’s research focused on finding solutions to the problem of moisture stress in different soils that limits tree seedling survival and growth. It involved applying Superabsorbent Polyacrylate (SAP) hydrogels i.e. substances that absorb water many times their weight, retaining and releasing it slowly to plant roots. The findings show that hydrogels significantly increased plant available water and prolonged tree seedling survival with reduced evapotranspiration compared to soils without hydrogels. Hydrogels saved water and labor by reducing irrigation frequency, yet producing more plant biomass. These findings imply that hydrogels can be applied to plant trees in sandy soils and drought prone environments leading to provision of the much needed tree products and services, thereby contributing to mitigating climate change effects and improving peoples’ livelihoods. The study was supervised by Prof. Joseph Obua, Prof. John David Kabasa and Prof. Dr. Huttermann (R.I.P). Funding was provided by the KAAD, Germany, The BASF Chemical Company, Germany and the National Agricultural Research Organization (NARO).
Conferment of the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy (Ecosystems)
ORIKIRIZA Lawrence Justus Baguma
“Enhancing Tree Performance in Degraded Dryland Soils using Super Absorbent Polyacrylate Hydrogels”
Mr. Orikiriza carried out research on Super Absorbent Polyacrylate (SAP) Hydrogels. These chemical substances absorb and store water several times their weight and such water may be slowly extracted when needed. The study focused on assessing strategies for improving the productivity of degraded dry land forest ecosystems using hydrogels to enhance tree performance under natural field and controlled conditions, with and without water stress.The research was motivated by the desire to increase the resilience of important tree species to water stress under the changing climate. He investigated the effects of SAP Hydrogels on tree species performance. The results show that the Hydrogels increased tree survival, growth performance and biomass production in drought prone environments hence tree planting in these environments can be achieved with the use of hydrogels. The study is valuable to stakeholders engaged in tree planting for restoration, land rehabilitation, pasture improvement, as well as optimal utilization of land and production in drought prone environments ultimately contributing to the ecosystem health and rural livelihoods.
The Principal, College of Natural Sciences to present the following
Conferment of the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy (Mathematics)
MIRUMBE Geoffrey Ismail
"Distribution solutions to ordinary differential equations with polynomial coefficients on the real line”
Mr. Mirumbe “lifted” ordinary differential equations with polynomial coefficients on the real line to the complex plane and used the vast classical results in complex analysis, sheaf theory, homological algebra, distribution theory and analytic D-module theory to prove that for a class of locally Fuchsian differential equations, the dimension of the distribution solution space is the order of the ordinary differential equation plus the sum of all multiplicities of the zeros of the leading polynomial coefficient of the differential equation. He further proved an existence Theorem for fundamental solutions to a class of locally Fuchsian differential equations using the “flag” lemma and theories from linear algebra. This work was funded partly by staff development (fees waivers) and also the International Science Program (ISP) through its arm the East African universities Mathematics program (EAUMP). The supervisors were Dr. V.A. Ssembatya (Director, Quality Assurance Directorate, Makerere University), Prof. Rikard Bogvad and Prof Jan Erik Bjork both of Stockholm University.
The Principal, College of Natural Sciences to present the following
Conferment of the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy (Botany)
MULUMBA John Waswa
“Phonetic, Distribution and Genetic structure Genetic structure of Acacia senegal (l.) wild. in Uganda”
Mr. Mulumba Wasswa’s research focused on the taxonomy, diversity distribution and population structure of the Gum Arabica tree (Acacia senegal). He described the three varieties that occur in Uganda and developed taxonomic keys for their identification. He mapped the distribution of the species’ varieties and determined the climatic factors that influence their distribution. He determined genetic variability in the species and the population structure across the cattle corridor. The results provide a basis for developing management plans for the species and for developing the species as an important industrial crop in the cattle corridor and particularly for Karamoja. Gratitude to Dr Esether Kakudidi and Dr Silvester Nyakaana, the Supervisors plus the Doctoral Committee.
The Principal, College of Natural Sciences to present the following
Conferment of the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy (Fisheries)
NALUKENGE Winnie Nkalubo (Ms)
“Life history traits and growth of Nile perch, Lates niloticus (L.), in Lake Victoria, Uganda: Implications for management of the fishery.”
Ms. Nkalubo’s research quantified key life history traits of the introduced Nile perch in northern Lake Victoria (Uganda) with the major goal of providing information to facilitate the development of predictive sustainable management strategies for this fishery. This study was the first to validate aging of Nile perch using sagittal otoliths (ear stones) by quantifying the periodicity and timing of opaque zone formation. Male Nile perch attained maximum size faster than their female counterparts, while the females reached a much larger size at older ages. A downward trend in both the age and size at maturity was detected suggesting a shift in maturation schedule. Overall, size selective mortality and its effects on yield determining traits seem to be, at least in part, responsible for the changes observed over time in the Nile perch population.
The Principal, College of Natural Sciences to present the following
Conferment of the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy (Physics)
NYEINGA Edward Drani
"Dynamic Model for Small Scale Concentrating Solar Energy System with Heat Storage'
The research focused on the development of a dynamic model for solar thermal storage systems at high temperature. The model is based on numerical integration of a set of conservation equations for mass, momentum and energy of the heat carrier, the rock pebbles and the walls. The numerical solutions are implemented based on implicit time integration without iterations. Stability problems at large time steps do not occur. The model predicts pressure, air velocity, air density and temperatures of the air, rock bed and wall in time and along the container. Nyeinga has developed a compressive tool that can be used for design and operational studies to aid the rapid development of a solar oven system with high temperature heat storage. The supervisors were Professor Eldad E.J.K Banda, Department of Physics, Makerere University and Professor Ole Jorgen Nydal, Department of Energy and Process Engineering, Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU), Norway.
Conferment of the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy (Physics)
OKELLO Denis
"Rock bed thermal energy storage for solar cooking"
"Mr Okello examined the use of rock particles packed in a container for storing thermal energy that can be used for cooking and for other applications requiring heat in the range of 100 oC to 350 oC. The research was motivated by the desire to design a system that can use solar energy to cook at any time. The potential of using such systems for solar application in Uganda is evaluated and it is observed that the northern and eastern parts of the country has highest potential for small domestic systems as well as for other large scale solar industrial applications. The results shows that rock particles can be used to store heat and both charging and discharging rates can be varied by varying the airflow speed through the system. The research was supervised by Professor Eldad Banda and Professor Ole Jorgen Nydal.
"
The Principal, College of Natural Sciences to present the following
Conferment of the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy (Chemistry)
TEBANDEKE Emmanuel
“Synthesis and characterization of selected polyoxometallates and their applications in catalysis”