Makerere University School of Public Health (MakSPH) is running its sixth intake for the Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) short course. This intake commenced on May 27th, 2019 at the School’s premises in Mulago. This year’s intake has individuals from Uganda, Tanzania, Sudan, and Somalia.
At the opening ceremony of the course, the Course Co-Coordinator, Mr. Rawlance Ndejjo, said the course targets individuals who lack qualifications in WASH yet have an interest in the sector. These include academic staff, graduate students, policy makers and practitioners without a background in WASH who would wish to broaden their knowledge and skills as a form of continuous professional development. "We realized so many people don't have expertise, grounding and qualification to make them efficient in their work,” said Mr. Ndejjo. The course is designed to equip trainees with the knowledge and skills necessary to gather, analyse and disseminate the knowledge needed to conceptualize and implement health policies and programmes related to WASH. Indeed, the main aim of this course is to promote WASH programmes in terms of disease prevention and control, management and administration of WASH services in communities. The course also encourages the development of a pool of practitioners with knowledge and competencies in different areas relevant to WASH.
Dr. David Musoke, the Course Coordinator explained that the course will run for eight weeks with three weeks of full time class studies, four weeks of short field projects, and a final week of presentations, writing project reports, an examination, and graduation.
Representing the Dean of MakSPH and Chair Department of Disease Control and Environmental Health at the event, Dr. Richard Mugambe said water and sanitation are critical for health if we are to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Citing a UN report, Dr Mugambe noted that 2.4 billion people lack access to basic sanitation and safe drinking water. He explained that the responsibility of getting Africa to catch up with its more developed counterparts, lies with different organisations and partners enabling access to water and basic sanitation.Dr. Mugambe also thanked Dr. Musoke and the team for the noble job they have done under WASH course over the years. He further urged the trainees to inform other people about the course.
This intake will run from 27th May, 2019 up to 19th July, 2019. Upon completion, graduands from the short course will be awarded certificates in WASH. MakSPH has been offering this unique certificate course in WASH for the last five years and so far 101 students have successfully graduated from it.
