Graduation cermony 2021/2022

The training of Public Health Nurses began in the early 1950’s at Certificate Level with an aim of Nurses who would provide public Health Services at the grass root level. Such a Nurse then was referred to/Called Assistant Health Visitor.
Many of us who heard and enjoyed the services rendered by the Public Health Nurses, their families got support in whole by their visits.
In the 1970s there was global recognition of the District as the nucleus for needs identification, planning, Coordination, integration and Monitoring of Health Programs. This then dictated the need for a higher level trained Public Health Nurse.
This Nurse (Assistant Health Visitor) worked as the link between the District Health Services and Community. She would be a key member of the District health Team with responsibilities in all areas of Primary Health Care team, Occupational Health Rehabilitation and other Public related matters, with such a huge demand on this Nurse, Diploma in Public Health Nursing began at Mulago in 1976.
The Diploma Program in Public Health Nursing was started to address the challenge of ever increasing population against scarce resources and limited services to address the current disease burden. Address of the sustainable Development Goals, the changing disease pattern and emergence of new diseases like Ebola, Marburg and Covid -19 as few examples and the future ones are unknown to us, but already known by the Almighty God!
Such events dear Guest of Honour have driven to the crucial need for even more Public Health Nurses at Bachelor level being long overdue, especially knowing that a Public Health Nurse at Bachelors’ level is the one who can develop, comprehend and interpret Government Policies and contribute effectively to their implementation¡