Experts Warn Against Shortage Of Epidemiologists In The Country

Posted by: Kyeyune Andrew Jonathan in Health January 16, 2023

Experts have warned of the looming danger of a shortage of epidemiologists in the country which needs to be addressed soon. This apparently puts the country at a high risk of failing to detect disease outbreaks.

The African Field Epidemiology Network revealed that one epidemiologist in Uganda serves over 250,000 patients. This is something the body has referred to as overwhelming for the epidemiologist.

According to the Head of Programs for the network, epidemiologists are very important in matters related to fighting non-communicable diseases. He, therefore, said such a small number in public health is inadequate for the country.

As the institution prepares for graduation, Makerere University School of Public Health recently released data in the field of epidemiology.

Apparently, only 600 epidemiologists have graduated from the university since its inception in 1994.

Proof of the effects of this shortage can be seen in the Covid-19 pandemic which cost the country a lot. The studies on the virus were slow due to the low number of experts in the field.

This pushed the country to look for vaccines and treatment from other countries like India and USA. Therefore, this comes as a wake-up call to invest more resources in epidemiology to be able to address such issues in the future.

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