Author Profile

Clovice Kankya

Affiliation: Department of Biosecurity, Ecosystems and Veterinary Public Health, Makerere University, Kampala, Uganda

I have good interpersonal relationship and the ability to work with other people as well as independently with minimal supervision. I am a committed, reliable, a clear-headed person. I am a hard working person with a sound and good thinking attitude and good communication skills with the potential to carry out resource mobilization from different stakeholders. Besides, I have a very good command of English language. I have strong attributes, knowledge and skills in designing, planning, management and implementation of Projects and programs at a strategic level. I hold academic capabilities and competences acquired from the following disciplines: • Bachelor’s degree in Veterinary Medicine (BVM) which provides a foundation for the overall responsibility for managing animal health aimed at improved livestock production which in turn contributes to alleviation of poverty and ensuring food security. • Masters of Preventive Veterinary Medicine (MPVM) that compliments the first degree with the provisions for modeling, implementing, monitoring and evaluation of the animal diseases prevention and control strategies. • Postgraduate Diploma in Integrated Rural planning and development ( PGDIRPD) PhD in Veterinary Epidemiology and Public Health at the Norwegian University of Life Sciences with a focus on Zoonotic diseases • Masters of Arts degree in Rural Development (MARD) The Postgraduate Diploma and MARD provides multi-disciplinary knowledge and skills to effectively, design, plan and implementation of rural community development interventions so as to sustainably manage community resources. This therefore will ultimately contribute to socioeconomic transformation of the communities especially the poorest of the poor. These and many other interventions are aimed at improving livelihoods and contribute to poverty reduction and sustainable development. SELECTED PUBLICATIONS 1. Kankya C, Muwonge A, Olet S, Munyeme M, Biffa D, Opuda- Asibo J, Skjerve, E, Oloya J. Factors associated with pastoral community knowledge and occurrence of mycobacterial infections in Human – Animal interface areas of Nakasongola and Mubende District, Uganda. BMC Public Health 2010 Aug 10: 10: 471 2. Muwonge A, Kankya C, Godfroid J, Djønne B, Munyeme M, Biffa D, Opuda- Asibo J, Skjerve, E, Prevalence and associated risk factors of mycobacterial infection in slaughter pigs from Mubende district in Uganda. Tropical Animal health and production 2010 June 42(5) 905-13 3. Kankya C, Muwonge A, Djønne B, Munyeme M, Opuda-Asibo J, Skjerve E, Oloya J, Edvardsen V, Johansen TB: Isolation of non-tuberculous mycobacteria (NTM) from pastoral ecosystems of Uganda: Public Health significance. BMC Public Health 2011, 11:320 4. Kankya C, Mugisha A, Muwonge A, Skjerve E, Kyomugisha E, Oloya J: Myths, perceptions,knowledge,attitudes, and practices(KAP)linked to mycobacterial infection management among Ugandan pastoralists. Advance Tropical Medicine and Public health international 2011; 1(4) 111-124 5. Muwonge,A. Ashemeire A. Kankya C, Biffa D, Oloya J, Skjerve E. Book Chapter No: 2 Nontuberculous mycobacteria in Uganda: a problem or not? In Global view in HIV Infection. Published 2011. 6. Muwonge A, Kankya C, Johansen T.B, Djønne B, Godfroid J, Biffa D, Edvardsen V, Skjerve E : Non-tuberculous mycobacteria isolated from slaughtered pigs in Mubende district, Uganda. Accepted for publication in BMC Veterinary Research, 2012 7. Adrian Muwonge, Hetron M Munang'andu, Clovice Kankya, Demelash Biffa, Chris Oura, Eystein Skjerve and James Oloya: African swine fever among slaughter pigs in Mubende district, Uganda. Trop Anim Health Prod (2012) PMID 22367736

Recent Posts

Introduction: Uganda has reported eight outbreaks caused by filoviruses between 2000 to 2016, more than any other country in the world. We used species distribution modeling to predict where filovirus outbreaks are likely to occur in Uganda to help in epidemic preparedness and surveillance.

Methods: The MaxEnt software, a machine learning modeling approach that uses presence-only data was used to establish filovirus – environmental relationships. Presence-only data for filovirus outbreaks were collected from the field and online sources. Environmental covariates from Africlim that have been downscaled to a nominal resolution of 1km x 1km were used. The final model gave the relative probability of the presence of filoviruses in the study area obtained from an average of 100 bootstrap runs. Model evaluation was carried out using Receiver Operating Characteristic (ROC) plots. Maps were created using ArcGIS 10.3 mapping software.

Results: We showed that bats as potential reservoirs of filoviruses are distributed all over Uganda. Potential outbreak areas for Ebola and Marburg virus disease areas were predicted in West, Southwest and Central parts of Uganda, which corresponds to bat distribution and previous filovirus outbreaks areas. Additionally, the models predict the Eastern Uganda region and other areas that have not reported outbreaks before to be potential outbreak hotspots. Rainfall variables were the most important in influencing model prediction compared to temperature variables.

Conclusions: Despite the limitations in the prediction model due to lack of adequate sample records for outbreaks, especially for the Marburg cases, the model outputs provide a risk map to the Uganda surveillance system on filovirus outbreaks. The risk maps for potential filovirus outbreaks will aid in identifying areas to focus the filovirus surveillance for early detection and responses hence curtailing a pandemic. The results from this study also confirm previous findings that suggest that Filoviruses are mainly limited by the amount of rainfall received in an area.