Table 2.

Effect of Afya Bora fellows’ activities on their capacity to support improvement of health care in Uganda

Thematic areas assessed	Reponses from the fellows
New responsibilities assigned to fellow due to skills acquired during the fellowship	“I am involved in grant application writing for different projects, a role that was previously left to scientists more senior than me.”
	“I participate in peer review of journal articles.”
	“I am now participating in multi-disciplinary research projects.”
	“I am currently the head of department of Microbiology and also the coordinator of graduate programs in the faculty of medicine at Mbarara University of Science and Technology.”
	“Following training experience I was given additional responsibilities from technical advisor to project manager role for elimination of mother to child transmission of HIV (eMTCT) programs.”
	“Immediately after Afya Bora fellowship, I was hired at the AIDS information Center, with a major role of ensuring integration of family planning services into HIV/AIDS services.”
	“The leadership and communication skills acquired during Afya Bora helped me to compete successfully for the position of director of a regional referral hospital.”
Improvements in quality of work	“Skills acquired in Afya Bora fellowship have helped me to improve our grant applications and to refine study objectives and research strategies for different study protocols.” “I have applied some of the study methodologies I learnt during the epidemiology course to new studies at MRC/UVRI.”
	“I have used the knowledge on manuscript writing to publish over 10 papers ever since I completed the fellowship.”
	“I have also participated in writing a training grant that is now under review.”
	“I have functionalized the use of quality improvement across thematic areas of pediatric HIV, TB/HIV, eMTCT and linkage to HIV care services.”
	“I have also been able to advocate for more practical and problem-based approaches for capacity building training curriculum with MoH and other implementing partners.”
	“I have supported development and mentorship of human resource at IDI especially for those that I supervise through performance-driven appraisal system.”
	“I have used acquired skills in monitoring and evaluation to improve the hospital outputs more especially the newborn care outcomes.”
New projects/innovations/changes you have developed in your program after the Afya Bora fellowship	“I have participated in grant application for two studies: one on non- communicable diseases and another on pre-exposure prophylaxis.”
	“I have led the start of grand rounds/seminars for my whole faculty of medicine.”
	“I have modified the quality improvement documentation journal to help health workers review performance.”
	“We have integrated family planning and cancer cervix screening in our PMTCT program.”
	“I am working on integration of adolescent HIV care within the clinics.”
	“I have linked private clinics in 4 districts (Mpigi, Mayuge, Mityana, Kumi, kaliro) to the national contraceptive supply system.”
	“I have introduced surveillance of newborn care at Jinja regional referral Hospital.”
Dissemination conferences attended	“I have presented my work at 1 local and 4 international scientific meetings, 4 peer-reviewed publications and 4 manuscripts in development.”
Other ways in which your fellowship experience has improved health care delivery	“Through the fellowship training I improved my data quality management skills for both qualitative and quantitative data collection. This helps to ensure that we generate quality data which is necessary for healthcare planning and delivery.”
	“Through improved communication skills and implementation science I have supported the programs to meet and respond to emerging needs even as we implement. I have also supported proposal writing for 2 projects IDI has won to provide additional funding within districts we support.”
	“I am working with two other Afya Bora fellows to develop a project on provision of family planning services to unreached communities in the mountains of South western Uganda.”
	“The program has improved my communication skills.”

PMTCT prevention of mother-to-child transmission of HIV, IDI Infectious Diseases Institute, eMTCT elimination of mother-to-child transmission of HIV