Approved Research This page provides a searchable list of all research protocols that have been reviewed and approved by the Uganda National Council for Science and Technology(UNCST).
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Name Title Nationality Approval Date Expiry Date Field of Science/Classification Trial Type Research Type  
Francisca Nagujja
ID: UNCST-2023-R007121
 Community Attitudes towards Hospice and Palliative Care in Southwestern Uganda
REFNo: SS4885ES

1. To explore the community’s understanding of hospice and palliative care services among the community in South-Western Uganda
2. To explore challenges and barriers to accessing hospice and palliative care in the south-western Uganda community
3. To find community-based approaches to addressing the barriers to accessing palliative care in the South-Western region

 Uganda 2026-07-06 15:32:03 2029-07-06 Social Science and Humanities Non-Clinical Trial Non-degree Award
Winnifred Kansiime Kimara
ID: UNCST-2021-R012131
 Integration of VectorCAM Digital Innovations into malaria control program in Uganda: An implementation research study to scale up advanced Entomological Surveillance
REFNo: SS4835ES

To evaluate the implementation and effectiveness outcomes of VectorCam across 20 additional districts in Uganda during national scale-up,To assess the implementation of the VectorCam model in two pilot districts and refine strategies for scale-up.,To identify determinants of VectorCam implementation using CFIR and co-develop ERIC-informed implementation strategies to support effective rollout.,
 Uganda 2026-07-06 14:49:09 2029-07-06 Social Science and Humanities Non-Clinical Trial Non-degree Award
SIMON ARUNGA
ID: UNCST-2021-R013498
 TELEPHONE ASSISTED HOME BASED DECISION TOOL TO GUIDE POST-OPERATIVE REVIEW VISITS AFTER ROUTINE CATARACT SURGERY IN AN AFRICAN SETTING (The Telephone Assisted Cataract Tool -TACT-STUDY).
REFNo: HS5948ES

To compare the effectiveness of the TACT versus face-to-face standard of care follow up after routine cataract surgery in a randomized controlled clinical trial (this will be informed by the validation study and will be conducted beyond the scope of this grant application).,To validate the TACT (sensitivity and specificity) in identifying post operative complications and guiding referral visits among patients who had routine cataract surgery ,To develop a telephone assisted home based decision tool (Telephone Assisted Cataract Tool-TACT) to be used by ophthalmic nurse practitioners to triage post operative cataract patients for potential complications,
 Uganda 2026-07-06 14:42:51 2029-07-06 Medical and Health Sciences Non-Clinical Trial Non-degree Award
Haruna Muwonge
ID: UNCST-2019-R000128
 Surgical Site Infections in a Ugandan Rural Setting: Transmission Dynamics, Risk Factors, Burden, Antibiotic Susceptibility, and Possible Interventions
REFNo: HS7858ES

To design and evaluate a context-specific interventional care bundle for the reduction of surgical site infections in rural Ugandan health facilities,To estimate the economic burden of surgical site infections on patients, healthcare providers, and the health system,To determine antimicrobial susceptibility profiles and transmission dynamics of bacterial pathogens associated with surgical site infections ,To assess clinical outcomes among patients diagnosed with surgical site infections,To identify risk factors associated with the occurrence of surgical site infections in rural Ugandan health facilities,To determine the epidemiology, transmission dynamics, risk factors, treatment outcomes, antimicrobial susceptibility profiles, and economic burden of surgical site infections in rural Ugandan health facilities, and to develop and evaluate a context-specific intervention package for their prevention and control.,
 Uganda 2026-07-06 14:41:09 2029-07-06 Medical and Health Sciences Non-Clinical Trial Non-degree Award
Betty Nyangoma
ID: UNCST-2025-R022905
 Gut Microbiome and Depression among People Living with HIV in Uganda
REFNo: HS7947ES

1: Characterize gut-microbiome composition and predicted functional pathways among 60 adults living with HIV (PLWH). 2: Evaluate whether gut microbiome composition and predicted functional pathways are associated with HIV-related factors (e.g., viral load, disease duration, and ART regimen) and depressive symptoms among Ugandan adults living with HIV in Kampala.
Uganda 2026-06-30 16:37:10 2029-06-30 Medical and Health Sciences Non-Clinical Trial Non-degree Award
Laureen Muhairwe Lumina Marie
ID: UNCST-2026-R026157
 PRICING, AVAILABILITY AND AFFORDABILITY OF BRAND AND GENERIC ESSENTIAL MEDICINES: EVIDENCE FROM UGANDA
REFNo: HS8018ES

Aim: To evaluate the pricing, availability, and affordability of brand/originator and generic essential medicines
across public, private, and NGO/mission pharmacy sectors in Uganda, and to identify barriers and facilitators
to generic substitution.
Specific Objectives:
• To determine price differences between originator and generic essential medicines across up to 8
pharmacy facilities in Uganda (public, private, NGO).
• To assess the availability of originator and generic medicines across facility types, expressed as a
percentage of medicines found in stock on the day of the survey.
• To calculate affordability of essential medicines using the days' wage methodology, expressed in days’
wages of the lowest paid government worker.
• To analyse how Uganda's NMP (2015) provisions on generic substitution are implemented in practice,
drawing on pharmacist and key stakeholder perspectives.
• To identify barriers and facilitators to generic medicine dispensing from pharmacist and key stakeholder
perspectives to inform targeted policy interventions.
• To provide evidence-based policy recommendations for Uganda’s Ministry of Health on pharmaceutical
pricing policy, generic substitution enforcement and access to essential medicine access.
 Uganda 2026-06-29 14:54:17 2029-06-29 Medical and Health Sciences Non-Clinical Trial Degree Award
Ayebare DavidSantison
ID: UNCST-2025-R023207
 POSTTRAUMATIC STRESS, SUICIDALITY AND SELF-HELP PLUS AMONG SELF-SETTLED YOUNG REFUGEES IN MBARARA CITY, SOUTHWESTERN UGANDA
REFNo: HS7984ES

1.4 Objectives 1.4.1 Broad Objective To evaluate the effect of the Self-Help Plus (SH+) on posttraumatic stress and suicidality in self-settled young refugees aged 15-24 in Mbarara City, southwestern Uganda. 1.4.2 Specific Objectives 1. To determine the prevalence of suicidality among self-settled young refugees aged 15–24 years in Mbarara City, southwestern Uganda. 2. To assess the severity of posttraumatic stress symptoms among self-settled young refugees aged 15–24 years in Mbarara City, southwestern Uganda. 3. To evaluate the effect of the Self-Help Plus (SH+) intervention on posttraumatic stress symptoms among self-settled young refugees aged 15–24 years in Mbarara City, southwestern Uganda. 4. To evaluate the effect of the Self-Help Plus (SH+) intervention on suicidality among self-settled young refugees aged 15–24 years in Mbarara City, southwestern Uganda.
Uganda 2026-06-29 14:49:40 2029-06-29 Medical and Health Sciences Non-Clinical Trial Degree Award
Linette Lubuulwa Marie
ID: UNCST-2026-R024243
 Sustainable Justice through Community Power: A Comparative Participatory Action Study on Legal Empowerment, Civic Space, and Collective Action in Uganda and Rwanda. RefNo: SS5383ES
REFNo: SS5502ES

? Overall objective: To strengthen evidence-based recognition and support for community justice actors, and increase community power and collective agency to address justice challenges.
? Objective 1: To generate robust, practice-based evidence on the contributions of community justice actors to advancing socio-economic rights and access to justice.
? Objective 2: To strengthen community justice actors as community mobilizers and advocates for socio-economic rights.
? Objective 3: To strengthen community platforms and networks to enable collective action on justice challenges.
? To examine the roles played by community justice actors {community-based paralegals, local mediation committees (Abunzi), and legal empowerment organizations} in enabling communities to claim and defend their socio-economic rights in Rwanda and Uganda.
? To explore and compare the roles of community-based paralegal in Uganda and Rwanda in facilitating community mobilization and collective action to address systemic injustices and enforce socio-economic rights in their immediate contexts.
? To identify the structural barriers which inhibit grassroots organizing and the building of collective power in defending and advancing rights and the strategies that are used to overcome these barriers in Uganda and Rwanda.
? To explore how legal empowerment approaches can complement community mobilization and coalition building to assist marginalized groups to address threats to their rights and develop longer-term and context-specific justice solutions?
? To develop evidence-based recommendations for scalable practices by grassroots justice actors that can be utilized to mobilize collective action and to protect the rights of the most vulnerable.
? To develop evidence-based recommendations for scaling up community mobilization to promote civic engagement, build transformative change and ultimately deepen democracy.

 South Africa 2026-06-29 14:46:31 2029-06-29 Social Science and Humanities Non-Clinical Trial Non-degree Award
Basaliza Edigar
ID: UNCST-2026-R025833
 AGRO-ECOLOGICAL-BASED ADAPTATION APPROACHES FOR DROUGHT RESILIENCE AMONG AGROPASTORAL FARMERS IN UGANDA’S CATTLE CORRIDOR
REFNo: A789ES

1) To characterize the agroecological adaptation practices for drought resilience among agro-pastoral farmers in Uganda’s Cattle corridor.
2) To assess agropastoral farmers’ perceptions of the effectiveness of agroecological adaptation practices in enhancing drought resilience in Uganda’s Cattle corridor.
3) To determine the factors influencing the adoption of agroecological adaptation practices for drought resilience among agropastoral farmers in Uganda’s Cattle corridor.
4) To explore the effect of agroecological adaptation practices on drought resilience and agricultural productivity among agropastoral famers in Uganda’s Cattle corridor.

 Uganda 2026-06-29 14:37:33 2029-06-29 Agricultural Sciences Non-Clinical Trial Degree Award
Evans Wangwe Nathan
ID: UNCST-2024-R003339
 Leveraging Predictive Analytics and Machine Learning for Early Detection and Management of Hypertension in Uganda
REFNo: HS7810ES

General Objective: To design and evaluate a machine learning predictive model for early detection of hypertension in Uganda. Specific Objectives: 1. To build and evaluate a predictive model for hypertension using machine learning. 2. To assess the performance and accuracy of the model in predicting hypertension, like accuracy, sensitivity, specificity, and the Area Under the Curve (AUC), in recognizing persons at high risk of developing hypertension. 3. To evaluate the usability of the predictive model in the early detection of hypertension.
Uganda 2026-06-29 13:46:10 2029-06-29 Medical and Health Sciences Non-Clinical Trial Degree Award
George Youssef
ID: UNCST-2025-R023202
 Acceptability of Recover@Home, an At-Home Nursing Follow-up Program after Ambulatory Surgery, Among Healthcare Providers and Community Members in Uganda
REFNo: HS7623ES

To assess the acceptability of the Recover@Home program after ambulatory surgery among healthcare providers and community members in Uganda. To assess the acceptability of the Recover@Home program among healthcare providers who are familiar with the concept and program. To explore the perceptions, attitudes, and acceptability of the Recover@Home program among community leaders and community members.
 USA 2026-06-29 13:30:49 2029-06-29 Medical and Health Sciences Non-Clinical Trial Non-degree Award
Sharley  Aloyo Melissa
ID:
Understanding Co-Morbidities in Rheumatic Heart Disease: Development and validation of diagnostic tests for Group A Streptococcus and common respiratory viral infections in Uganda.
REFNo: HS7765ES

Primary Objective: To develop and validate a Loop-mediated Isothermal Amplification (LAMP) based point-of-care test for Group A Streptococcus and common viral pathogens with sensitivity ?95% and specificity ?90% for use by low-cadre health care workers in Uganda.

Secondary Objective

1. To design, optimize, and evaluate a LAMP-based molecular point-of-care diagnostic test cassette for Group A Streptococcus (sensitivity of at least 95% and a specificity of ?90%).

2. To modify the developed test into a multiplexed point of care molecular-based diagnostic test targeting Group A streptococcus and common viral pathogens that cause respiratory tract infections (Respiratory Syncytial Virus (RSV), Influenza and Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2)/COVID-19).

3. To conduct a validation cross-sectional study to compare the diagnostic performance of the newly developed point-of-care test against the throat culture and PCR gold standards.

4. To evaluate the diagnostic performance of a smartphone-based artificial intelligence mobile App in the diagnosis of Group A Streptococcus throat infection

5. To assess the usability and acceptability of the developed point-of-care test and the Mobile App among healthcare workers and participants
 Uganda 2026-06-29 13:27:53 2029-06-29 Medical and Health Sciences Non-Clinical Trial Degree Award
Joackim Ssesanga
ID: UNCST-2026-R023713
 PSYCHOSOCIAL RESILIENCE AND ACADEMIC PERFORMANCE AMONG SCHOOL-GOING ADOLESCENTS LIVING WITH PERINATAL HIV IN CENTRAL UGANDA
REFNo: HS7480ES

1. To identify the specific coping strategies that enable adolescents with perinatal HIV to maintain mental health and resilience in school settings. 2. To evaluate the impact of HIV-related stigma on the educational outcomes (attendance and grades) of adolescents in Central Uganda. 3. To determine the roles played by teachers, parents, and peers in facilitating a supportive environment for perinatally infected students.
Uganda 2026-06-29 13:25:20 2029-06-29 Medical and Health Sciences Non-Clinical Trial Non-degree Award
Varsha Ashok
ID: UNCST-2026-R025166
 Inspiring Careers in the Agrifood Sector through Career Talks and Human-Centered Approaches
REFNo: SS5457ES

This study seeks to generate rigorous evidence to inform the design and potential scale-up of career guidance interventions for O-Level and Agricultural Technical and Vocational Education and Training (ATVET) students in Uganda’s agrifood sector. The broader project involves designing and piloting two modalities of career talks video-based and in-person using a human-centered and iterative approach. Evidence generated through the research phases will guide refinement and assess feasibility for integration into Uganda’s career guidance systems. 3.2 Research Objectives (Evidence-Generating) The research component of the study has five core objectives: To assess baseline perceptions, aspirations, and knowledge gaps among O-Level and TVET students regarding careers in Uganda’s agrifood sector. To identify key design features (content, delivery style, messenger characteristics, and format) that make career talks engaging, culturally relevant, and gender-sensitive for different student segments. To compare the effectiveness of in-person versus video-delivered career talks in influencing students’ career knowledge, perceptions, and intentions toward agrifood careers. To examine factors affecting the acceptability and feasibility of implementing career talks within school and TVET institutional contexts. To generate evidence-based recommendations for scalable career guidance interventions aligned with Uganda’s education and youth employment systems. 3.3 Project (Implementation) Objectives The following objectives relate to intervention development and implementation rather than evidence generation: To co-create career talk content with students, teachers, and agrifood professionals using a human-centered design approach. To recruit and brief role models representing selected personas for prototype development and piloting. To develop and refine prototype career talks through iterative stakeholder testing. To prepare career talk formats for potential integration into national career guidance structures. These project objectives provide the foundation for the research but are not themselves evaluative outcomes. 3.4 Research Questions What are the prevailing perceptions, aspirations, and misconceptions about agrifood careers among O-Level and TVET students in Uganda? What design elements (content, messenger, format, delivery mode) make career talks engaging and credible for students across contexts? How do in-person and video-delivered career talks differ in their influence on students’ knowledge, perceptions, and stated career intentions? What institutional, logistical, and contextual factors influence the acceptability and feasibility of delivering career talks in schools and TVET institutions? What implications do the findings have for scalable, policy-aligned career guidance interventions in Uganda?
India 2026-06-25 22:48:40 2029-06-25 Social Science and Humanities Non-Clinical Trial Non-degree Award
Asiimwe Shane Ian
ID: UNCST-2024-R002876
 Postpartum urinary incontinence among mothers in Kampala, Uganda: Prevalence, factors associated, lived experiences and predictors of persistence of incontinence.
REFNo: HS7886ES

4. To explore other pelvic floor dysfunctions among women with postpartum urinary incontinence in Kampala, Uganda (Sub-study IV). ,2. To establish the prevalence and the predictors of persistence of postpartum urinary incontinence among women in Kampala, Uganda (Sub study II).,2. To describe the lived experiences of women with postpartum urinary incontinence in Kampala, Uganda (Sub study II),1. To determine the prevalence and factors associated with postpartum urinary incontinence among women in Kampala, Uganda (Sub study I) ,To determine prevalence and factors associated with postpartum urinary incontinence, describe the lived experiences of affected women and establish predictors of persistence of urinary incontinence among women who have had child birth in Kampala Uganda.,
 Uganda 2026-06-25 22:46:06 2029-06-25 Medical and Health Sciences Non-Clinical Trial Degree Award
Pius Mukisa Not applicable
ID:
Lot Quality Assurance Sampling Based Surveillance of Antibiotic Use and Resistance; Stakeholder perspectives, Feasibility and Prediction of Future Resistance Risk.
REFNo: HS7718ES

1. To examine the influence of stakeholder positions, interests, incentives and power on antibiotic use (ABU) surveillance in Uganda using a political economy lens. 2. To examine the influence of stakeholder positions, interests, incentives and power on antibiotic resistance (ABR) surveillance in Uganda using a political economy lens. 3. To evaluate the acceptability, adoption, appropriateness feasibility and sustainability of lot quality assurance sampling (LQAS) based surveillance of antibiotic resistance (ABR) in Uganda 4. To determine the cost of implementing lot quality assurance sampling (LQAS) based surveillance of antibiotic resistance (ABR) at district level in Uganda. 5. To predict the future risk of developing resistance among stored extended spectrum beta lactamase producing Escherichia coli and Klebsiella pneumoniae isolates through exposure to laboratory induced selection pressures.
Uganda 2026-06-25 22:43:19 2029-06-25 Medical and Health Sciences Non-Clinical Trial Degree Award
Cristina Reverzani
ID: UNCST-2023-R008154
 Vitamin D supplementation among pregnant women in Uganda for the prevention of adverse obstetric outcomes: a randomized controlled trial
REFNo: HS7794ES

The objective of this trial is to investigate if vitamin D supplementation among pregnant women in Uganda prevents adverse maternal and foetal outcomes, with special emphasis on preeclampsia.
Italy 2026-06-25 22:39:41 2029-06-25 Medical and Health Sciences Clinical Trial Non-degree Award
Naomi Nabami
ID: UNCST-2025-R018998
 Women vendors: A history of female commercial activities across the Uganda-Congo border during the 20th century.
REFNo: SS4964ES

The first objective of this project is to contribute to women’s empowerment in the subregion by looking at their historical trajectory. It will also allow for historicizing ICBT between the DRC and Uganda, recentering female agency, and bringing in the Congolese perspective. The project fills in an important blank spot in our historical understanding of the Uganda-Congo border’s economic development by connecting the precolonial, colonial, and postcolonial contexts in which this trade took place. By recentering the overlooked role of women as commercial actors throughout the history of ICBT, the project investigates how trade connections evolved in times of war and forced displacement, but also in pre-conflict decades. This will result in a dissertation that focuses on the 20th century to the present.
Here are the specific objectives of the research:
RO1 – Historicizing ICBT between the DRC and Uganda: According to Titeca (2009), informal trade activities between DRC and Uganda must be understood through the lens of a complex history that includes ethnic interconnections and refugee fluxes. Yet they also build on historical relations and exchanges that predate the context of conflict or the Structural Adjustment Programs. The project fills in an important blank spot in our historical understanding of this border’s economic development by connecting the precolonial, colonial and postcolonial contexts in which this trade took place. By recentering the overlooked role of women as commercial actors throughout the history of ICBT, the project investigates how trade connections evolved in times of war and forced displacement, but also in pre-conflict decades. This will result in a dissertation that focuses on the period 1850 to present.
RO2 – Recentering female agency: Public discourse about the border area under study, particularly the Congolese side, often portrays women as mere victims of a conflict-prone context. While sexual violence is indeed used as a weapon of war in this region, with cases dating back to colonial abuses (see Mertens 2023), it is crucial to also pay attention to the ways in which these women have shaped their livelihoods, generated forms of economic autonomy, and evaded male control (see for example Obbo 1980, MacGaffey 1988). Because of its informal character, ICBT generates specific regulatory dynamics, which not only require negotiation with state officials, but also with the broader population (see Titeca 2012). However, we know very little about the ways in which women have navigated this commercial ecosystem. Therefore, their agency is the starting point of this research project (see Thomas 2016). By applying an interdisciplinary approach and using a variety of sources, the project tackles the methodological challenges that have hitherto played a role in the overlooking of Central African female histories.
RO3 – Bringing in the Congolese perspective :Informal export from Uganda to the DRC continues to grow rapidly, with the DRC making up 49,4% of Uganda’s total informal exports in 2018, in comparison to 27,1% in 2010 (Titeca 2020: 3). While this project does not have the ambition to add quantitative data from the Congolese side to the debate, it is innovative in its historical attention to the activities, experiences and livelihoods of Congolese female experiences in this border area. The informality of their activities and the lack of control over mobility was a general source of distress for the colonial government, especially in border areas (see for example Mathys forthcoming). Recent doctoral research by Aurélie Bouvart (2024) even suggests that Congolese women who were brought to court in the Belgian Congo were mostly convicted for “crimes” related to unauthorized mobility. This project, therefore, contributes a critical new perspective by foregrounding the agency of Congolese women and by highlighting the historical continuities in their strategies for navigating both economic and social landscapes across the Congolese-Ugandan border.
 Democratic Republic of Congo 2026-06-25 22:37:37 2029-06-25 Social Science and Humanities Non-Clinical Trial Degree Award
EMMANUEL OLUKA 0
ID: UNCST-2025-R022876
 UNVEILING PATTERNS AND PREDICTORS OF PRE-EXPOSURE PROPHYLAXIS(PrEP) OUTCOMES AMONG PEOPLE AT HIGH RISK OF HIV IN TESO-SUBREGION, UGANDA: LATENT CLASS ANALYSIS
REFNo: HS7804ES

Objective 1: To determine the patterns of PrEP use among People at high risk of HIV in Teso sub-region using Latent class analysis Objective 2: To describe the characteristics of latent classes among different sub-groups of People at high risk to HIV Objective 3: To evaluate the class-specific PrEP outcomes among People at high risk of HIV
Uganda 2026-06-25 22:36:09 2029-06-25 Medical and Health Sciences Non-Clinical Trial Non-degree Award
Fatumo  Segun Adeyemi
ID:
Uncovering Molecular Determinants of Complex Diseases in Africa
REFNo: HS7783ES

Aim 1: To generate broad-capture proteomic and metabolomic measurements from diverse populations in Africa. Aim 2: To utilise the genetic architecture of diverse African populations to facilitate new insights into disease pathways. Objective 2.1: Construct comprehensive molQTL maps that capture the unique genetic architecture of African populations, between African and other ancestries, and within African regions. Objective 2.2: Finemap molQTLs using high-resolution genetic data from African populations to identify causal variants Aim 3: To assess the aetiological significance of identified molecular quantitative trait loci (molQTLs) by colocalising them with complex disease-associated genetic signals. Objective 3.1: To identify shared genetic loci and perform colocalisation analysis between molQTLs and GWAS signals for complex diseases. Objective 3.2: Integrate functional annotation with pathway analysis to understand the biological mechanisms underlying colocalised loci. Objective 3.3: Identify potential drug targets and therapeutic pathways associated with prioritised colocalised loci.
UK 2026-06-25 22:34:39 2029-06-25 Medical and Health Sciences Non-Clinical Trial Non-degree Award
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