MUKONO: A new study in Uganda is set to reveal what might be compelling factors behind COVI-19 vaccination hesitancy in Uganda.
The study titled: “Conspiracy beliefs & COVID-19 vaccination Hesitancy in Uganda” was conducted by Professor Kukunda Elizabeth Bacwayo and her team of researchers from Uganda Christian University, Mukono.
Prof. Kukunda will be presenting their findings on 8th September 2022 at Uganda Christian University Mukono at a research dissemination event which has been organized by UCU researchers in the Principal’s Hall and online.
ResearchFinds has not accessed the full findings yet but the dissemination is expected to throw light on the apparent apprehension towards COVID-19 vaccination campaigns by the majority of Ugandans. It is their hesitancy that might have recently prompted the Ministry of Health to relaunch vaccination campaigns across media platforms.
Prof. Kukunda’s findings are expected to inform policy making in Uganda’s fight against the pandemic
According to the ministry’s current vaccination overview and captured by ourworldindata.org, Uganda has so far received 31.3 million doses since the pandemic hit the country in March 2020.
According to this data, out of an estimated 46 million Ugandans, only 12.5 million have been fully vaccinated, representing a vaccination performance of 27.4%. This means that a huge chunk of Ugandans is either partially vaccinated or not vaccinated at all.
The worldwide data shows that 67.7% of the world population has received at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine.
“12.58 billion Doses have been administered globally, and 4.74 million are now administered each day. Only 20.9% of people in low-income countries have received at least one dose,” reveals the website ‘Our World in Data.’
Despite vaccination hesitancy, Uganda is among the few countries in the world that are credited with taming the deadly COVID-19 pandemic that has bred 604 million cases and 6.49 million deaths globally.
Since the pandemic hit the country in March 2020, Uganda has only registered 169,000 cases and recorded 3,628 deaths.
Who is Professor Kukunda?
Professor Kukunda is Dean, School of Research and Post-Graduate Studies, Uganda Christian University and holds a Ph.D. (Development Studies) from Massey University- New Zealand. Her dissertation looked at The Quest for Efficiency: Role of Human Resource Management in Public Sector Reforms: A case of Uganda.
She has published several papers among which are:
Basamba T. A., Mayanja C., Kiiza B., Nakileza B., Matsiko F., Nyende P., Bacwayo K. E., Tumushabe A., and Ssekabira K., (2016) “Enhancing Adoption of Agroforestry in the Eastern Agro-Ecological Zone of Uganda” in International Journal of Ecological Science and Environmental Engineering; 3(1): 20-31. https://www.aascit.org/journal/archive2?journalId=904&paperId=3712
Bacwayo K. E. (2010) “Private Higher Education in Uganda: Implications for Equity, Access, Knowledge Creation and Research” in K. B. Alemu, T. Halvorsen, and M. Mwiandi (Eds.), Reshaping Research University in the Nile Basin Countries, Fountain Publishers, Kampala.
Basamba T. A., Kiiza B., Mayanja C., Nakileza B., Matsiko F., Nyende P. and Bacwayo K. E. (2012), “Linking Markets to Smallholder Agro-forestry Farmers as a Strategy for Poverty Alleviation in the Tropics” Journal of Agricultural Science and Technology (2012) 329-338
Muriisa R. K. and Bacwayo K. E. (2010), “University Education in Uganda: A Situational Overview”, in K. B. Alemu, T. Halvorsen, and M. Mwiandi (Eds.), Shaping Research Universities in the Nile Basin Countries, Fountain Publishers, Kampala.
Bacwayo K. E. (2010) “Privatisation of Service Delivery and Its Impact on Uganda’s Attainment of the 7th MDG”, The African Symposium, Vol. 10 (2) Dec.
To access the event online, our readers are encouraged to do so by zoom link at https://zoom.us/j/94815503899: Meeting ID: 94815503899: Passcode: 270704
