Is this you? As a journalist, you can create a free Muck Rack account to customize your profile, list your contact preferences, and upload a portfolio of your best work.
Claim your profile
Articles by John Agaba
How Uganda ended its Bundibugyo Ebola outbreak
The two years Agnes* had worked at the upscale hospital in Uganda’s capital Kampala had been professionally challenging, but never frightening. Then, on 15 May, biological samples from a patient who had died at the hospital the previous day tested positive for Ebola – a highly fatal epidemic virus that spreads from person to person through contact with infected bodily fluids. Anxiety rippled through almost every member of staff and all the patients at the facility.
How Uganda ended its Bundibugyo Ebola outbreak
At a glance Uganda has confirmed the end of its Bundibugyo Ebola outbreak, which infected 21 and killed two people in the country between May and June of this year. Speaking to VaccinesWork, government representativesreflected on the measures that worked, both preparatory and responsive. “We wanted to plug any potential loophole,” said Dr Atek Kagirita, the Ebola Incident Commander at the Ministry of Health.
AFDB COMMENDS KCCA FOR TRANSPARENT DELIVERY OF KAMPALA CITY ROADS REHABILITATION PROJECT- KCCA | For a better City
AFDB COMMENDS KCCA FOR TRANSPARENT DELIVERY OF KAMPALA CITY ROADS REHABILITATION PROJECT PUBLISHED — 25th, August 2026 The African Development Bank (AfDB) has commended the Kampala Capital City Authority (KCCA) for the transparent and efficient implementation of the Kampala City Roads Rehabilitation Project (KCRRP), citing the project’s clean track record free of embezzlement, corruption and procurement irregularities.
World’s most mosquito-bitten district records sharp drop in hospitalisations since malaria jab
At a glance The people of Apac are the most mosquito-bitten in the world. But a year after the introduction of a new vaccine, malaria, the deadliest of the mosquito-transmitted diseases, appears to be in retreat here. The monthly average number of children hospitalised with severe malaria is down 63% in Apac. Nationwide, nearly 52,000 fewer children under age five suffered a bout of severe malaria in 2025–2026 than in the year before.
In remote Uganda, this nurse is helping vaccinate the marginalised Twa people
At a glance Evicted from their rainforest homelands in the 1990s, Uganda’s indigenous Twa people still remain socially marginalised and broadly underserved by the state healthcare apparatus. Nurse Davis Andisa has made it his focus to make sure Twa children are afforded equitable access to the protection of vaccines.
Measles killed thousands of Ugandan children, and then came the vaccine
The disease was dreaded and explosively contagious. In Edson Tumusherure’s village, it was killing children and straining the health system. The typical early signs were a high fever, cough, red, watery eyes and the tell-tale rash that all but confirmed the diagnosis: measles. “It was so aggressive, with lots of complications,” recalls Tumusherure, now a health officer for Isingiro district in southwestern Uganda.
Uganda steps up cholera surveillance along imperilled borders
Dr Denis Ocula needed a strategy. Cholera had killed a woman and infected an additional 106 people in his district of Lamwo, near Uganda’s border with South Sudan, and he knew only too well that the disease can spread at wildfire rates. So, Ocula – who is a health officer for the district – called a meeting with local health workers, village health teams (VHTs) and Lamwo community leaders to figure out a plan.
How the malaria vaccine came to the world’s most mosquito-bitten district
Dr James Odongo sat eating greens at a restaurant in Apac district in northern Uganda when his phone rang. The Ministry of Health had included Apac on its list of the 105 hard-hit districts that would be included in the first roll-out of the new malaria vaccine. Odongo – who is the health officer for the district – felt ecstatic. Malaria, a leading cause of death in Uganda and most of Africa, had killed 41 children under five years in the district in 2024.
How Uganda is tackling the Ebola-like Sudan virus
When samples tested positive for Sudan virus disease (SVD) in Uganda’s capital, Kampala, on 30 January, Dr Jane Ruth Aceng, the country’s Minister of Health, knew they needed a robust plan. The same deadly epidemic disease had killed 55 people and disrupted business and health systems in a previous outbreak in the east African country in 2022. Moreover, the virus, which belongs to the Ebola-disease causing Orthoebolaviruses, didn’t have an approved vaccine or treatment.
Fighting deadly disease on Uganda’s tea plantations
The weather was cold, windy and threatening to rain, but Sylvia Nyasuku had given her word to vaccinate a group of kids from a tea-picking families at Kajugangoma, a village some five kilometres off the Uganda-Democratic Republic of the Congo border. So the midwife, who is attached to Kirima Health Centre III in Uganda’s Kanungu district, slung her vaccine carrier across her chest and took thewindingfootpath towards the tea estate.
How a candidate vaccine (and other treatments) stopped Rwanda’s Marburg outbreak
When blood samples tested positive for Marburg virus disease (MVD) in Rwanda’s capital Kigali on 27 September, Dr Sabin Nsanzimana, the country’s minister of health, knew that he had a vicious outbreak on his hands. “I had some pain at the injection site and experienced chills, but otherwise felt fine throughout the process.
“These filoviruses are always re-emerging” say East African scientists working on vaccine for Sudan Ebola strain
Dr Betty Mwesigwa was driving to the Makerere University Walter Reed Program (MUWRP) offices in Kampala in 2022, when a news alert aired on radio. Ministry of Health officials had confirmed an outbreak of the Sudan strain of Ebola in Kassanda and Mubende districts in Central Uganda. "You can imagine the pain… watching the (last Sudan Ebola virus) outbreak kill 55 people in part because we didn’t have an approved vaccine.
Meet the nurse helping newcomers to safety in one of Uganda's largest refugee settlements
Nurse Daphne Namusoke needed to come up with a plan if she was going to improve the uptake of vaccines among the refugees at Kyaka II settlement in western Uganda, to protect them from measles and the other vaccine-preventable diseases (VPDs) that had a tendency of cropping up. Amid conflict in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), thousands of refugees, including children and young women, were arriving at the settlement, which currently hosts about 113,000 people.
"It is a risk someone has to take": the Catholic nun helping vaccinate thousands in Uganda’s Karamoja
When Virginia Virgo packed her bags to join a monastery in northern Uganda in the 1980s, she had one thing in mind: to leave her past behind, and embrace a new life of prayer and contemplation. But she quickly realised that there were real-world problems she couldn’t simply leave behind – things like poverty, and the great numbers of children in her native Karamoja region who remained at risk from preventable disease. She decided to enrol in a nursing school after she made her vows.
How portable, AI X-ray machines are helping Uganda beat TB
The road to Bukibokolo village in the hills of Bududa, eastern Uganda, was steep and rough – impassable on two wheels, Moses Eyaru concluded. But the health worker needed to screen the village dwellers for tuberculosis (TB) and that couldn't wait. Ministry of Health data had shown that Bukibokolo was one of the many TB hotspots in the east African country.
Re-integrating Africa's street children
The sun was scorching, but Winnie Akol and her 1-year-old baby hadn't eaten in a day and needed to hang around the chaotic streets of Kampala, Uganda, to beg for food. The 17-year-old mother was looking emaciated as she stood in the sweltering heat, clutching her baby in one hand and extending the other to passersby, begging. The majority ignored her.
ZDC superheroes: the consultants helping to vaccinate vulnerable kids in Uganda
The year 2023 was coming to an end, but before the holidays, Milly Namaalwa needed to meet with a few more health workers and village health teams (VHTs) in Kamuli district in eastern Uganda. Her aim: to assess their efforts to reduce the numbers of unvaccinated kids in their area. Namaalwa climbed into her Toyota pick-up and embarked on the 118km journey from Kampala, the capital, to Kamuli, where she made a first stop at Kagumba Health Centre III. "They are professionals with a great work ethic.
How Uganda’s immunisation programme helped reduce child mortality
Stella Nanyonga slipped on a pair of blue nitrile medical gloves and opened the vaccine carrier – a small, insulated container lined with coolant packs to keep drugs and diluents cold. She picked up a vial containing a vaccine against diphtheria, pertussis, tetanus, hepatitis B and haemophilus influenzae type B out of the container, and shook it methodically before drawing the drug into a syringe. She turned to a waiting mother and child, and swiftly, smoothly, injected the baby.
Uganda's anti-homosexuality laws stymie research
This article is available free of charge. Simply log in to access the full article, or register for free if you do not yet have a username and password.
How LGBTQ+ people in Uganda are fighting a draconian new law
Uganda has long been unsafe for gender and sexual minorities trying to live freely and openly. But now a populist new bill imposes life imprisonment for engaging in homosexuality and the death penalty for what the government calls “aggravated homosexuality,” including same-sex sexual activities with minors, people with disabilities, or people over 75 years old.
How LGBTQ+ people in Uganda are fighting a draconian new law
It was the one place she should have been safe. Monalisa’s small apartment was on the third floor of a tidy building in Buziga, a sleepy suburb a few miles south of the Ugandan capital Kampala. In almost three years of living there, she’d never encountered any trouble. Then, on March 21, Uganda’s Parliament passed one of the world’s harshest anti-LGBTQ+ laws, igniting a crackdown against a fledgling community.
She watched cancer kill her mother. Now Flavia Kyomukama is on a mission to save lives
When Flavia Kyomukama was growing up in southwestern Uganda in the 1980s, her family was torn apart by two killer diseases. The young woman watched as AIDS emaciated her husband. She looked on as ovarian cancer killed her mother. Then, she too, tested positive for HIV – the virus that causes AIDS – and soon, medics diagnosed her with cervical cancer. Today, the 56-year-old survivor is on a mission to stop the illnesses that blighted her youth.
“We need these jabs”: How a Ugandan ‘bingwa’ is helping boost demand for COVID-19 vaccines
Law student Doreen Naiga was attending an Africa CDC meeting at Speke Resort Munyonyo, an upscale lakeside retreat not far from Kampala, in July 2022, when a speaker uttered an arresting statistic: just two in ten Ugandans were vaccinated against COVID-19. It wasn't because COVID-19 vaccines weren't available in the East African country, but because Ugandans weren't demanding them. A similar situation prevailed in much of the rest of Africa.
Scientists say East Africa's farmers need improved seeds to counter pests and effects of climate change
About 12 kilometers from Uganda’s Kampala City, along the Bombo-Gulu Highway, fleshy and dark-green banana plants thrive on a farm with a perimeter wall. “These plants are bio-fortified, are rich in Vitamin A, and are high-yielding,” said Dr Priver Namanya Bwesigye, the head of Uganda’s banana research program at the National Agricultural Research Laboratories at Kawanda.
“We need to reach every child”: How Uganda’s routine immunisation program climbed back from COVID-19
Agnes Namboozo hated to climb the rudimentary ladder connecting Buluganya subcounty to Mashelusi and Manyololo villages in the hills near Mount Elgon in Uganda. It was rickety and incredibly tall, undulating for tens of metres up a brittle, near-vertical precipice. But there were children to immunise in the mountain villages, and the ladder was her only means of access.
“Everybody has heard how it kills”: Uganda’s veteran health system ramps up its Ebola response
Dr Diana Atwine had just sat down at her desk in Uganda's Ministry of Health on 19 September when she received a phone call. Blood samples her office had sent to the country's virus research institute in Entebbe were positive for a rare type of Ebola, the so-called Sudan strain. A jolt of fear ran through Dr Atwine.
New biotechnologies can help restore extinct species, say conservation scientists.
New biotechnologies such as de-extinction and cloning could help to bring extinct animals back from the dead and revive millions of endangered species, conservation advocates say. Ben Novak, who leads a project to revive passenger pigeons that died out in captivity in the 1900’s at Revive and Restore, says the new biotechnologies could also stop the species’ invasive diseases and make it possible for humans to coexist with nature, without necessarily threatening its habitat.
Scientist wants everyone in Africa to have clean water
AFRICA She has spent countless days and nights in the lab, carefully analysing molecules and nanoparticles that can degrade different impurities and filter water. Her face brightens when she talks about water purification and decontamination in Africa.
Partnership on track to give Bangladeshi and Indonesian farmers disease-resistant GMO potatoes
Researchers will be testing genetically modified potatoes in Bangladesh and Indonesia this year in hopes of providing farmers with an alternative to spraying fungicides. Multiple confined field trials of GM late blight-resistant (LBR) potatoes will be conducted in both countries under a Feed the Future Global Biotech Potato Partnership. Potatoes are some of the most important crops grown in Indonesia and Bangladesh.
Report shows how conflict stymies research and innovation
SOMALIA-SOUTH SUDAN Among other responsibilities, higher education institutions are mandated to teach and to conduct research to generate evidence-based solutions to societal challenges. But conducting research can be daunting for academics in higher education institutions in conflict-ridden areas in Africa.
Grasshoppers: Africa's untapped food source
Edible grasshoppers could help alleviate hunger and malnutrition in Africa while providing farmers with a new source of income, say scientists in Uganda and Finland who have studied the ecology of the insects for close to a decade.
African Researchers: Tick Vaccines can Stop Use of Dangerous Pesticides
By John Agaba Scientists in Uganda will soon start clinical trials for a recombinant anti-tick vaccine they hope can stop parasites in cattle and the use of dangerous chemical pesticides in Africa. Over the years, African farmers have used pesticides known as acaricides to control the ticks. But the parasites are increasingly becoming resistant to most of the available acaricides on the continent, reducing their effectiveness.
African researchers: Tick vaccines can stop use of dangerous pesticides
Scientists in Uganda will soon start clinical trials for a recombinant anti-tick vaccine they hope can stop parasites in cattle and the use of dangerous chemical pesticides in Africa. Over the years, African farmers have used pesticides known as acaricides to control the ticks. But the parasites are increasingly becoming resistant to most of the available acaricides on the continent, reducing their effectiveness.
Universities empowering young women to end hunger
AFRICA All Marion Namukose ever wanted to do was to plant her fruit farm, process her oranges, brand them and sell them. But the entrepreneur had found attaining her goal rather ‘easier said than done’ – until she attended a university programme in 2018 that showed her how. “The programme took me through everything I needed to know about fruit farming and agro-processing,” Namukose said in an interview with University World News.
Sequencing 100,000 species to secure food supplies
[KAMPALA] Collecting and storing genomic information of plants, animals and other species in Africa could safeguard biodiversity and enable breeders to produce resilient and sustainable food systems, biodiversity advocates say. Under a new initiative called the African BioGenome Project (AfricaBP), they plan to collect more than 100,000 species of plants and animals, developing a store of reference genomes which breeders can use.
Mamdani talks about his research legacy and work at Makerere
UGANDA Professor Mahmood Mamdani was the executive director of the Makerere Institute of Social Research at Makerere University, Uganda, from 2010 to the end of February 2022. During this time, he has revamped the institution’s mission and established a robust PhD programme. Following his departure, Mamdani shared his views about how to build a strong research culture, his work as an academic and threats to higher education.
Students’ COVID art becomes outreach tool to Kampala slums
UGANDA In Kampala slums, very few wear masks, let alone practise social distancing. The argument has largely been that you cannot really worry about contracting COVID-19 when you don’t have anything to eat and are starving. But a students’ initiative, through art, is encouraging the slum dwellers in the East African city to safeguard against the fourth wave of the coronavirus, even when they are hungry.
Synthetic biology offers two-pronged solution to global plastic problem
Synthetic biology can help control the growing global problem of plastic pollution by speeding up the natural decomposition process and making eco-friendly plastics to replace the current petroleum-based products, scientists say. Bacteria and other microorganisms naturally degrade plastic waste, though the process is very slow and could take centuries, said Dr. Stephen Opiyo, research scientist at Ohio State University in the United States.
Synthetic biology in Africa: ‘Golden opportunity’ once regulations are in place
S ynthetic biology can solve some of Africa’s pressing challenges related to poverty, food insecurity and climate change, scientists say, but its adoption faces hurdles. “Synthetic biology presents a golden opportunity for improving livelihoods in Africa, but its success can only be realized if the policy and legislative environment is conducive,” said Benson Kinyagia, principal scientist at the national commission for science, technology and innovation in Kenya.
Synthetic biology in Africa: 'Golden opportunity' once regulations are in place
Synthetic biology can solve some of Africa’s pressing challenges related to poverty, food insecurity and climate change, scientists say, but its adoption faces hurdles. “Synthetic biology presents a golden opportunity for improving livelihoods in Africa, but its success can only be realized if the policy and legislative environment is conducive,” said Benson Kinyagia, principal scientist at the national commission for science, technology and innovation in Kenya.
African scientists call for policies to support synthetic biology and other innovative technologies
Scientists in Africa are calling on the continent’s leaders to enact policies and other laws that can facilitate adoption of newer technologies, including synthetic biology. “With synthetic biology, Africa has a big opportunity to solve some of its pressing challenges related to hunger, malnutrition and disease,” said Benson Kinyagia, principal scientist at the national commission for science, technology and innovation in Kenya.
Ugandan students push biotechnology outreach and biosafety law
After growing frustrated with legislative inaction, biotechnology students in Uganda have started an initiative to advocate for biotechnology, gene editing and the passage of a biosafety law. The Biotechnology Online Series features students and researchers using Zoom and other social media channels to discuss how biotechnology and newer tools such as CRISPR-Cas9 and genetic engineering could improve the country’s food production and quality of life.
Ugandan scientists developing drought tolerant coffee varieties to save valuable cash crop
After releasing coffee varieties resistant to wilt disease, Ugandan agricultural scientists have begun developing Robusta varieties that are drought-tolerant as well. But because Uganda lacks a biosafety law, researchers said they cannot use faster gene editing tools such as CRISPR-Cas to develop the new varieties. Instead, they anticipate the process will take about 10 years. Uganda is one of the leading exporters of Robusta coffee in Africa.
African scientists call for policies to support synthetic biology and other innovative technologies
Scientists in Africa are calling on the continent’s leaders to enact policies and other laws that can facilitate adoption of newer technologies, including synthetic biology. “With synthetic biology, Africa has a big opportunity to solve some of its pressing challenges related to hunger, malnutrition and disease,” said Benson Kinyagia, principal scientist at the national commission for science, technology and innovation in Kenya.
Ugandan scientists developing drought tolerant coffee varieties to save valuable cash crop
After releasing coffee varieties resistant to wilt disease, Ugandan agricultural scientists have begun developing Robusta varieties that are drought-tolerant as well. But because Uganda lacks a biosafety law, researchers said they cannot use faster gene editing tools such as CRISPR-Cas to develop the new varieties. Instead, they anticipate the process will take about 10 years. Uganda is one of the leading exporters of Robusta coffee in Africa.
GM crops: Kenya and Nigeria progress as Uganda falters
T hough several African countries, including Kenya, Nigeria and Ethiopia, are making tremendous strides in their quest to develop and commercialize genetically modified crops, it’s not the same story in Uganda. Despite very promising initial successes, Ugandan scientists in the East African country have struggled to progress their GM crop research beyond confined field trials (CFTs) due to various reasons that are out their control.
GM crops: Kenya and Nigeria progress as Uganda falters
Though several African countries, including Kenya, Nigeria and Ethiopia, are making tremendous strides in their quest to develop and commercialize genetically modified crops, it’s not the same story in Uganda. Despite very promising initial successes, Ugandan scientists in the East African country have struggled to progress their GM crop research beyond confined field trials (CFTs) due to various reasons that are out their control.
Farmer Davies Korboe champions youth involvement in agriculture
Davies Korboe always wanted to become a farmer. As a young man growing up in the suburbs of Accra, Ghana, he owned a small garden adjacent his home where he planted fruits, maize and a wide variety of fast-maturing vegetables. So, it wasn’t surprising that Korboe chose to cultivate a teak plantation immediately after graduating from college in 2002, rather than chasing a white-collar job.
‘Bridging that gap between scientists and ordinary folks’: How storytelling combats anti-GMO advocacy
M any Africans still don’t understand scientists, or what they do. Scientists are widely seen as aloof and detached — a misperception has negatively impacted societal attitudes toward scientific innovations on the continent. Now Science Stories Africa is bridging that gap between scientists and ordinary folks.
Story telling: A new approach to science communications
Many Africans still don’t understand scientists, or what they do. Scientists are widely seen as aloof and detached — a misperception has negatively impacted societal attitudes toward scientific innovations on the continent. Now Science Stories Africa is bridging that gap between scientists and ordinary folks.
Show More
loading
Actions
Is this you?
As a journalist, you can create a free Muck Rack account to customize your profile, list your contact preferences, and upload a portfolio of your best work.Get in touch with John
Contact John, search articles and posts on X, monitor coverage, and track replies from one place.
Learn more about Muck Rack