Stagnant Technologies: Dormant Solutions in African Labs

By Esther Nakkazi

A new herbal anti-malarial drug, a fuel-free incinerator for medical waste in rural areas, and a quick, low-cost dipstick diagnostic test for schistosomiasis—a parasitic disease affecting over half the population in Africa—are among numerous innovations designed to address critical local health challenges.

Yet, these promising products, referred to as "stagnant technologies," remain stuck in Africa’s laboratories. Despite their potential to save lives, they lack the commercialization and marketing support needed to move beyond research and into widespread use.

A recent survey identified 25 such products in health research institutions across Africa. Sixteen are derived from traditional plant-based remedies, while others include new drug molecules, diagnostics, vaccines, and medical devices.

"If Africans are to prevail over diseases, they must unleash the formidable talents of their own scientists and entrepreneurs. Sustainable solutions to Africa's health problems rest with the home team,” said Peter Singer, Director of the McLaughlin-Rotman Centre (MRC) for Global Health in Canada. 

Singer emphasized that waiting for external scientists to develop and market solutions tailored to Africa’s health challenges would only delay progress and cost countless lives.

Innovations on Hold

One striking example comes from Makerere University in Uganda, where researchers developed a portable, WHO-approved, fuel-free incinerator for medical waste. Capable of reaching temperatures of 800°C using only medical waste as fuel, this innovation could address the challenge of waste management in rural healthcare facilities, particularly during mass immunization campaigns. However, the incinerator has remained unused on campus for years.

In Kenya, researchers at the Kenya Medical Research Institute (KEMRI) created Sunguprot, a plant-based product from Tylosema fassoglensis, which developers claim can help manage HIV symptoms. Unfortunately, research on the product stalled due to insufficient funding and the lack of advanced equipment needed for isolating compounds and conducting clinical trials.

Meanwhile, at the International Centre for Insect Physiology and Ecology in Kenya, scientists have patented human odors that repel mosquitoes. This innovation has the potential to significantly reduce malaria transmission, yet further research remains in limbo as it awaits partnerships with multinational companies.

In Ghana, the Centre for Scientific Research into Plant Medicine is developing Nibima, an anti-malarial drug derived from the plant Cryptolepis sanguinolenta. Like many African innovations, it faces challenges progressing from the lab to the market.

Success Stories and Lessons Learned

Despite these struggles, some success stories demonstrate what is possible when local innovations receive proper support.

Tanzania’s A to Z Textile Company, for instance, became one of the world’s largest producers of long-lasting insecticide-treated bed nets. With local funding, economies of scale, technology transfer, and partnerships, the company cost-effectively produced tens of millions of nets annually, overcoming regulatory hurdles and procurement challenges.

Similarly, KEMRI in Kenya constructed a full-scale manufacturing facility for HIV and Hepatitis B diagnostic kits. While the facility initially faced setbacks due to government procurement issues, the institute turned things around by diversifying its product line to include disinfectants and improving its diagnostic kits.

KEMRI also adopted an open innovation business model, fostering partnerships with investors and research collaborators while generating revenue through contract manufacturing. Additionally, it developed a marketing division, established an institutional intellectual property policy, and trained its scientists in innovation management.

These efforts show how research institutions in Africa can transform scientific discoveries into practical health solutions, reducing the continent's health burden and tapping into global markets.

The Way Forward

"Clearly, many Africans have the needed talent and know-how. However, the seeds of their efforts need careful nurturing by both donors and African governments at all levels,” said Ken Simiyu, a researcher at MRC.

Simiyu argues that creative institutions and coherent policies are needed to reduce risks, build on local strengths, and incentivize innovation. Studies suggest that with the right support and partnerships, African scientists and entrepreneurs can tackle local health challenges while fostering economic growth.

A Call to Revive Stagnant Technologies

Research published last month by Canada’s McLaughlin-Rotman Centre for Global Health, funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and Genome Canada, highlights both the challenges and opportunities for Africa’s innovators. The findings draw from experiences across Kenya, Tanzania, South Africa, Madagascar, Nigeria, Ghana, Rwanda, and Uganda.

While many promising technologies remain stuck in limbo, they hold immense potential to save millions of lives and compete in global markets. To realize this potential, stagnant technologies must be revived, supported, and commercialized. Only then can Africa harness its scientific creativity to transform health outcomes for its people.

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Uganda's oil adequate for the East African region for the next 30 years

By Esther Nakkazi

Ranking Uganda among the 50 peak producers of oil in the world and top 10 in Africa could be moments away, pointing towards ‘prosperity’ for Uganda and the entire East African region.

So far, 2.5 billion barrels of oil and gas reserves have been confirmed in a quarter of the Albertine Graben, and are projected to reach 5 billion, more than adequately providing for the East African states’ energy and fuel supplies for the next 30 years says the ministry of Energy.

Studies say that the reserves estimated at 700 million barrels and worth 50 billion, equate to two-thirds of the $78 billion, a total annual gross domestic product of the combined EAC states.

With this income, Uganda has a chance to lift its 33 million people out of poverty and to directly finance its development for sectors like health, education, agriculture and roads as well as offer employment to populations in the neighbouring east African member states.

Uganda also has a chance to secure and lower the cost supply of crude and petroleum products in region, transforming the whole EAC economy.

Now, the Uganda oil reserves are said to surpass the region’s needs, so countries in the region stand to gain from exports, but that calls for integration of infrastructure-rail, road, pipeline- to reduce operational costs to allow for competition with middle-east oil producers.

At the exploration stage, now, and moving to development the country will need successful and collaborative partnerships both in the EAC region and internationally.

The partnerships, will enable other East African community member states to develop their own oil and gas sectors as most of them are already at the exploration stage.

In Rwanda, oil exploration is taking place in the Kivu Graben; Kenya has four sedimentary basins in the Rift Valley, Lamu, Anza and Mandera that are under exploration.
While, the Songo Songo and the Manzi bay gas fields in Tanzania are also with confirmed hydrocarbon potential.

All these initiatives across the region will lead to growth and expansion of the oil sectors, and require new technologies, industries and skilled manpower.

Also key to the growth of the oil sector is a solid, reliable supply chain that requires many local suppliers of all sorts of services and equipment. This could lead to growth of the small-scale industries in the region and grow employment opportunities.

Already, the type of crude, low skilled labor force in the oil sector and the preference for a mini-refinery at home puts Uganda in a precarious position that calls for big investment.

Experts say the crude is a sweet, waxy and heavy crude that solidifies at room temperature and requires a long development cycle and heated transportation.

And, the multiplicity of 15 oilfields spread over 160 kilometers, as well as a home and regional refinery present an opportunity to develop both the Uganda and regional transport sector.

So far there are oil and gas pipelines laid between Dar es Salaam, Tanga and Mombasa, and the extension of the Mombasa to Kampala oil pipeline to Kigali and Bujumbura is underway.

Although some of the services and goods required in the oil industry are very specialised, many small companies in the region will benefit from offering services like construction, trucking, catering, waste management, security, transport and accommodation.

Man power is also required to provide services such as environment consultants, fabrication, maintenance, man power management services, banking- are services that need to be fully developed.

And, Uganda alone does not have the capacity and skilled manpower to fill these jobs. For instance, Oil companies employ up to 300 Ugandans on a seismic survey and about 100 Ugandans on a drilling project but mainly to do casual work because of lack of the skilled expertise in the country.

However, some have suggested that all will not be rosy, oil and gas reserves for Uganda could undermine other sectors in the economy and damage the environment. But all that stands to be tested with the Uganda Oil Industry, the first to develop in the region.


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Welcome to Ghana!

By Esther Nakkazi

I usually want to describe myself as a food explorer, because I try to eat only local foods in my travels. Often times when I travel, I stick to the local foods, which sometimes awes my Ugandan colleagues.

In Nigeria it was Mr. Snail that I ate and was scorned at by fellow Ugandans. I ate it slowly, because I was treading on new territory, and managed to swallow at least five chews. It was not bad, tasted like rubber. Totally overrated by the Nigerians.

While other Ugandans ate rice and chicken (with a lot of pepper), which was what was familiar to taste, I stuck to Egusi soup, Eba, Amala and vegetable. A food explorer indeed!

Now my trip to Ghana in late January exposed me to a lot of new food dishes. First some background. In Ghana, there is no petting-dogs and cats are no pets. They are for the cooking pot. Skinned squirrels and grass cutters are a common sight on the roadside.

Infact, as I watched cats survive alongside humans in one of the rural communities, I realized they were no friends. In the Obuasi community, the cats could not curl around people as they normally do. As one passed by me, I tried to touch it, being friendly really, but it sprinted away in fright, probably thinking I wanted it for dinner. 

But even I, the 'food explorer', could not eat or even think about it. For goodness sake, my Grandma keeps pets (cats) and I would like to keep a dog sometime.

One Ghanaian man, while describing his cat eating meal, said they prepared a head exclusively for the young men including him, at some bride introduction ceremony, and he immensely enjoyed eating it. I touched my stomach. But who I am, to judge them, in Uganda we eat grasshoppers- a type of locust, unlike anywhere in Africa. (Or nowhere I have heard of).

The eating of cats, dogs and squirrels does not mean that Ghana is not a food basket. I have never seen as much food as I saw in Ghana both in quantities, variety and richness of a meal.

Take for instance nuts- there are cocoa nuts, kola nuts, cashew nuts and tiger nuts (which are meant to make men tigers in bed). To show that it is in plenty, often times people eat in what I can describe as a calabash (big dish made of clay). In here, the proportions are big and a variety. 

You could mix beef, tuna fish and chicken plus fufu or banku (hope this is the right spelling) in one meal. This comes with a lot of rich, heavy soup of course with pepper and often times reddish in colour because of a mixture of spices and too much palm oil.

Ghana also is one of the richest African countries I visited with many natural resources, Gold, everlasting salt mines and most recently oil. If well exploited, and revenues managed properly, it could be a middle income country. Plus the good political regimes, democracy, not so bad roads- with side walkways- I just could be born in Ghana.

Ghana also has a lot of similarities to Uganda, which has just discovered oil.

Ghanaians are also very good Christians, just like Ugandans, only I guess they are more tolerant to divergent views.

So my trip from Ghana also exposed me to another situation that could have turned fatal, had not the pilot acted quickly. First of all, I was allocated a back seat, near the toilet, which I did not like at all.

But on a full plane you got not much choice. So we were engaged in our usual chat chat when we realized that the plane was actually not gaining altitude. In minutes, we were heading back for the airport for an emergency landing.

Why? The cabin did not have enough pressure. As soon as the captain announced it, I felt like yes I was not breathing properly. A colleague described the situation in as bad.

When there is low pressure in the cabin, there is limited oxygen; the ears get affected most because they start hurting. Eventually, the plane had to fly at low altitude to avoid the high pressure high up. And this was the second time I was in a Kenya Airways plane with a serious problem. 

But I loved Ghana!

Health Systems Research shelved in Uganda

By Esther Nakkazi

The Uganda media could be saturated with heath system issues but their content minimally refers to research, keeping researchers’ findings on the shelves.

A study titled; ‘From Paper to Mike: An analysis of Health Systems Reporting In Uganda’s Print and Radio Media’, revealed that health systems researchers’ voices and their findings were missing in the articles.

“There seems to be limited interaction between researchers and the media. I am aware that so much research is done but very little is reported in the media and this suggests for a closer working relationship between the media and heath researchers,” said Dr. Anne Katahoire, the principal investigator of the research study.

“Researchers do not trust many journalists for fear that they (journalists) will misrepresent the research findings. That this is partly because journalists do not take adequate time to study and understand carefully the messages being conveyed by the study findings. Also sometimes journalist just wish to sensationalize the findings,” said Nelson Sewankambo the Principal, Makerere University College of Health Sciences.

The study was conducted in the months of March-June 2010 by a multidisciplinary team, from the media and academia led by Makerere University and funded by Research Matters, a collaboration between the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC) and the International Development Research Centre (IDRC).

Nasreen Jessani, IDRC’s Health Program Officer for East and Southern Africa highlighted that “With increasing attention being paid to evidence informed decision-making, it is critical to recognize the role of the media as a ‘broker’ between researchers and decision-makers as well as between researchers and the general public.”

“In Uganda, we need to better understand the context within which researchers, decision-makers and media are interacting so as to better plan for enhanced use of new knowledge in policy and practice.”

The team analyzed over 100 newspaper articles from four local newspapers and 72 radio programmes covering the four regions of Uganda. In-depth interviews with health researchers, reporters, editors, and radio health program presenters and producers were also done.

Malaria could be eliminated by 2015

Malaria –World Malaria Report 2010 (15.12.10)
By Esther Nakkazi
In many countries, the total number of malaria deaths and hospital admissions have been more than halved in a decade as a result of increased control interventions particularly the provision of insecticide-treated mosquito nets.
According to the World Malaria Report 2010, released by the World Health Organisation (WHO) last week, malaria-related deaths have fallen from 985,000 in 2000 to 781,000 in 2009 the largest absolute decreases observed in Africa.
Ban Ki-moon, the UN Secretary General, said it is possible that when a broad range of partners join forces malaria deaths could be eliminated by 2015.
The affiliation between committed African leaders, financial support from donor countries providing more than $5 billion in new money since 2008 and the Roll Back Malaria partnership has already brought success.
“If we heed to the lessons highlighted in this report we can achieve our goal of ending malaria deaths by 2015, accelerate progress toward the MDGs and usher in a better future for all,” said Ban Ki-Moon.
According to the World Malaria report, in eleven African countries including Rwanda in east Africa, the malaria burden dropped by more than 50 percent in 2000 to 2009.
For Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda there was a wide scale implementation of malaria control activities to more than 50 percent of the populations at high risk over this same time period. Most of these populations where able to access Insecticide Treated mosquito Nets (ITNs).
Already, enough nets have been delivered to sub-Saharan Africa to protect nearly 580 million and more than 75 million people have received protection from Indoor Residual Spraying (IRS).
Now the World Health Organisation has promised an additional 54 million nets to be delivered to sub-Saharan by early 2011, totaling 350 million, bringing the goal of universal coverage declared by UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon in 2008 within reach.
This achievement represents the largest scale-up of a malaria control intervention in Africa ’s history.
The WHO Director-General, Dr Margaret Chan, said the results set out in the report are the best seen in decades after so many years of deterioration and stagnation in the malaria situation.
"The phenomenal expansion in access to malaria control interventions is translating directly into lives saved, as the WHO World Malaria Report 2010 clearly indicates. By maintaining these essential gains, we can end malaria deaths by 2015," said Ray Chambers, the UN Secretary-General's Special Envoy for Malaria.
In the east African region, other countries could emulate Zanzibar and Rwanda’s persistence and maintenance of successful malaria control campaigns and programmes.
According to the report, Rwanda has significantly scaled up malaria control interventions including distribution of 6.4 million mosquito nets over the last three years.
Most of these Long Lasting Insecticide-treated mosquito nets (LLINs) were distributed during a measles vaccination campaign to children below 5 years, and each of them were given as well as all households to avoid further malaria cases and deaths.
Inpatient malaria cases and deaths in Rwanda have now fallen by more than 50 percent from 2000 to 2009 says the report.

However, Rwanda noted an upsurge in cases of malaria beginning in 2009 but a new mosquito net campaign was launched in April 2010 to replace older nets, which then reduced malaria cases and deaths.
By 2009, the number of malaria admissions and deaths in Zanzibar were 81 percent lower than those recorded in 2000, says the report.
Zanzibar’s malaria success is largely attributed to free for all anti-malarial drugs (ACTs) in all public health facilities since September 2003 and universal coverage of nets to the 1.3 million islanders.
Annually, indoor residual spraying is carried out to cover nearly all households and there is improved diagnosis of malaria cases as Rapid Diagnostic Tests (RDTs) began to be more widely used from 2005.
In the rest of Africa, by 2009 more than a third of suspected malaria cases were confirmed with a diagnostic test, an increase from less than 5 percent by 2000.
Now the WHO recommends that all suspected malaria cases undergo diagnostic confirmation prior to treatment. Already, a number of African countries including Uganda have been able to scale up malaria diagnostic testing at a national level.
“Not only has this resulted in saving the unnecessary use of hundreds of thousands of courses of ACTs annually, but has also allowed for the implementation of timely and accurate surveillance for malaria,” said Dr Chan.
Research shows that using RDTs improves the quality of care for individual patients, cuts down the overuse of drugs, protects their therapeutic life, and allows for timely and accurate malaria surveillance.
However, the report cautions that these gains are fragile and all supporting partners should keep in the loop or the opportunity could be lost.
For instance insecticide-treated bed nets remain effective for three years and their supply must be replenished while the development of parasite resistance to antimalarial drugs and mosquito resistance to insecticides are perennial threats.

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Use of herbal remedies in HIV treatment still causes stigma

By Esther Nakkazi

When the cock crows and birds fly out of their nests early morning, the African herbalists rise with the sun to go to the forests.

There, they pick fresh leaves, peel the new bark off trees and dig plant roots from the soft ground before the sun hardens it. They then apply the knowledge most of them acquired from their ancestors.

Traditional herbalists are custodians of knowledge on herbal concoctions that are used by millions of Africans to survive. In Uganda, they are big contributors to HIV treatment as high costs and shortages of modern drugs remains imminent.

The World Health Organization estimates that up to 80 percent of people in the developing world still rely on herbal remedies for their health care.  It has thus adopted a deliberate policy of encouraging the development and utilization of traditional medicine in HIV treatment and care.

In Uganda, it is estimated that 70 percent of Ugandans infected with HIV go back to nature and consult traditional herbalists for treatment as various symptoms present. But herbalists feel there is still a lot of stigma with the use of herbs in HIV/Aids although it remains a sustainable way in HIV treatment.

“When a client goes for HIV treatment they do not mention their use of traditional medicine. Yet the drug interaction between herbs and anti-retroviral drugs could be dangerous,” said Ms. Primrose Kyeyune, a technical advisor, Traditional and Modern Health Practitioners Together Against AIDS (THETA)

Experts say the attitude towards traditional medicine use is bad because people do not want to be associated with it.

Stigma Still High Among Users of  Herbal Remedies for HIV

“People stigmatize herbal medicine but they buy it every day and prefer herbal products to modern medicines,” said Kyeyune.

According to THETA officials stigma can only be reduced through training and counseling of both the herbalists and the HIV patients. Started in 1992, THETA is a Uganda non-government organization that has been working with traditional healers in Uganda especially in HIV/AIDS prevention and care.

With THETA trainings most herbalists have changed their ways of administering herbs in HIV treatment and care. Many now can identify the dangerous HIV symptoms and refer patients to health facilities to test for HIV. They have also been trained to do record keeping, maintain minimum standards of hygiene and offer counseling.

“Originally herbalists used to claim that they heal HIV but with our training, they now have knowledge that it is not curable,” said Grace Nanyonga, the information officer at THETA.

THETA has trained the herbalists to understand the HIV cycle, which has ensured that most of them know that they can only treat symptoms but cannot heal HIV.

Working as a team the herbalists have now come up with herbs for HIV that can boost the immune system, relieve Herpes Zoster, diarrhea, skin diseases and oral thrush, all opportunistic infections of Aids.

Some of the herbs have been investigated at the research Laboratory in Wandegeya, a Kampala suburb and found to have active substances that are therapeutically useful.

Training for Herbalists

Ssenga Bernadette Nabatanzi a herbalist says since she joined THETA and trained under the Regional Aids Training Network (RATN) her way of treating patients has changed.

“I am now able to keep records of my clients- like the date, age, physical and telephone contacts, next of kin, type of disease or symptoms, and the medicine, which I have administered.”

“In practice, I cannot cut patients with the same razor blade anymore and the patients do not accept because they know their rights. They no more can take herbs which we spit on,” said Nabatanzi a reproductive health specialist.

Nabatanzi says with limited time and long lines of patients, most doctors using modern medicines do not have the time to counsel patients and gain their trust. However, herbalists who are usually permanent residents of the community, are always available and have a lot of time to administer in-depth counseling.

THETA has integrated HIV/Aids information into counseling relating HIV to culture, which enables the patients to feel better. In counseling HIV patients, the herbalists are encouraged to prepare, persuade, and request those who have symptoms to go and check for HIV.

“Usually when they test and find that they are HIV positive they come back and consult me. They confide in me because most herbalists become their confidants and counselors,” said Nabatanzi who also advises on a good diet.

For their services, the herbalists or counselors accept cash payments in installments or in-kind - beans, goats, chicken. The herbalists have also been taught about minimum standards of hygiene- toilets, clean drinking water, well lit and ventilated clinics to not get infected with tuberculosis.

“I am well respected in the society, and the community prefers coming to my clinic,” said Suleiman Nkuutu a herbalist.

But as the communities continue to seek herbalists’ services and trust them, these continue to charge exorbitant fees and with no law to regulate them some administer fake herbs.

THETA also has a problem with those that get so rich as most of them eventually become untrainable, rigid, secretive- they fear that their concoctions will be stolen- so they work at night.

Still, medical practitioners medics treat herbalists with a lot of suspicion and disregard. However, THETA official says that with continued training the gap is getting closed as they start appreciating each other’s role. THETA officials say they can work with all those that fall in the WHO definition of traditional herbalists including those who sacrifice children.

“We would wish to have the witches who sacrifice children on board so that we educate them to stop the practice. If the government can support us we can come together and train all of them,” said Ms. Kyeyune.

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Makerere University College of Health Sciences Releases Report On Uganda Media Coverage Of Health Research Issues

By Esther Nakkazi

The Uganda media could be saturated with heath system issues but their content minimally refers to research, keeping researchers’ findings on the shelves.

A study titled; ‘From Paper to Mike: An analysis of Health Systems Reporting In Uganda’s Print and Radio Media’, revealed that health systems researchers’ voices and their findings were missing in the articles.

“There seems to be limited interaction between researchers and the media. I am aware that so much research is done but very little is reported in the media and this suggests for a closer working relationship between the media and heath researchers,” said Dr. Anne Katahoire, the principal investigator of the research study.

“Researchers do not trust many journalists for fear that they (journalists) will misrepresent the research findings. That this is partly because journalists do not take adequate time to study and understand carefully the messages being conveyed by the study findings. Also sometimes journalist just wish to sensationalize the findings,” said Nelson Sewankambo the Principal, Makerere University College of Health Sciences.

The study was conducted in the months of March-June 2010 by a multidisciplinary team, from the media and academia led by Makerere University and funded by Research Matters, a collaboration between the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC) and the International Development Research Centre (IDRC).

Nasreen Jessani, IDRC’s Health Program Officer for East and Southern Africa highlighted that “With increasing attention being paid to evidence informed decision-making, it is critical to recognize the role of the media as a ‘broker’ between researchers and decision-makers as well as between researchers and the general public.”

“In Uganda, we need to better understand the context within which researchers, decision-makers and media are interacting so as to better plan for enhanced use of new knowledge in policy and practice.”

The team analyzed over 100 newspaper articles from four local newspapers and 72 radio programmes covering the four regions of Uganda. In-depth interviews with health researchers, reporters, editors, and radio health program presenters and producers were also done.

Through these they explored the coverage of health issues in the media paying attention to the extent to which, journalists used research based evidence and the processes through which research gets or does not get into published articles in the newspapers and health programmes on radio.

The study, like no other done in this area, paid particular attention to the reporters behind the stories in terms of their background training and orientation.

All the newspapers reviewed had health magazines pull outs and the radio stations aired health related programs at least 2-3 times a week, a fact that showed a healthy coverage of health.

The researchers adopted the WHO health systems definition, as “consisting of all the people and actions whose primary purpose is to promote, restore or maintain health”.

This included formal health services including the professional delivery of personal medical attention, actions by traditional healers, all use of medication- prescribed by a provider or not.

It also had home care of the sick; traditional public health activities like health promotion and disease prevention, and other health enhancing interventions like road and environmental safety improvement. The articles identified in each of the newspapers were classified under these categories.

The study found that the majority of health system articles were on disease prevention and health promotion while the articles on the formal health services were more of critics of what was happening in the formal health services in the country but the majority was not informed by health systems research

Of all the published articles reviewed, almost none were based on health systems research in Uganda, for those that referred to some research reports; the research was most likely not conducted in Uganda.

In broadcasting media, it was found that radio programs on health were largely driven and sustained by sponsors (commercial or institutional) who determined the topics, the program running flow and were largely skewed toward disease prevention of the well funded diseases like HIV/AIDS and malaria.

Ideally, health programs on radio would be driven by communities’ health needs or the professional choices of the producers or presenters. But most of the program presenters were also not trained, noted the study.

Newspaper articles were however, largely driven by community questions and were reporters and editors featured a particular health topic, they were driven by what they had either experienced in their own interaction with health system or that of someone they knew.

Indeed, the newspaper articles covered a larger spectrum of health issues relative to radio.

The study was premised on the assumption that the media, an important stakeholder in health systems research could potentially influence policy and public attitudes through its role of sensitization and publicity.

“Reporting should stimulate interest among the readers and debate on important findings that may affect policy development, change in health practices and the behavior of people that impacts on their health,” commented Prof Sewankambo.


Recommendations

“Both the media and the health researchers need to work on their attitudes towards each other. The media portrays researchers as exploitative and as using people as guinea pigs while health researchers have a dismissive attitude towards the media,” said the study.

“Our team found that there are different efforts towards this cause but more needs done. Researchers need to recognize that the media is an important stakeholder in research,” said Dr. Katahoire.

This entails a need for communication budgets in research, engagement of the media in the research process and more face-to-face interactions between the journalists and health researchers.

But also, health research funders need to devote funds for communicating the research findings to the public. If this were done it would improve the links between the media and researchers as well as media reporting of health research, according to the research team.

“This is a strategy that has been recognized and supported by many funders but requires buy-in and mutual trust from a number of players” asserted Ms. Jessani.

“In addition in requires a new cadre of professionals – one that straddles the worlds of research and the worlds of communication. Funding communication is necessary but not entirely sufficient. Adequate skills are required that allow for the distillation and repackaging of research results into different forms for different audiences.”


The research team included Dr. Anne. Ruhweza Katahoire the director, Child Health and Development Centre, School of Medicine College of Health Sciences, Makerere University; Doris Kwesiga a researcher with Makerere University; Esther Nakkazi a freelance science journalist; and Hannington Muyenje the outgoing Country Project Director, BBC world Service Trust in Uganda.