Etheldreda Nakimuli-Mpungu

Etheldreda Nakimuli-Mpungu (born 1974) is a professor, researcher, epidemiologist and psychiatrist at the Department of Psychiatry in the Faculty of Medicine, Makerere University in Uganda. Her research is particularly focused on supportive group psychotherapy as a first-line treatment for depression in people with HIV. She is one of only five recipients of the Elsevier Foundation Award for Early Career Women Scientists in the Developing World in Biological Sciences, as well as listed at one of the BBC's 100 Women in 2020.

Education Nakimuli-Mpungu graduated in medicine from Makerere University's Faculty of Health Sciences in 1998. When she announced the news to her mother, her mother replied: "OK, good. But you know it's not good just to be a doctor, you go to some doctors and they don't make you feel better. I want you to be one of the doctors who really do good for people". Her career began in Kampala, where she worked first in a surgical department, then with children. In this iteration, 1140 patients were treated at more than 40 health centres across northern Uganda. The participants were again split into two: one half received "culturally appropriate psychotherapy", the others received general HIV education. The International Fulbright Science & Technology Award, 2007. Elsevier Foundation Award for Early Career Women Scientists in the Developing World in Biological Sciences, 2016.

Selected publications

'Effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of group support psychotherapy delivered by trained lay health workers for depression treatment among people with HIV in Uganda: a cluster-randomised trial' (co-authored) in The Lancet (February, 2020). 'Group support psychotherapy for depression treatment in people with HIV/AIDS in northern Uganda: a single-centre randomised controlled trial' (co-authored) in Lancet HIV (May, 2015). 'Depression, alcohol use and adherence to antiretroviral therapy in sub-Saharan Africa: a systematic review' (co-authored) in Aids Behaviour (November, 2012). Urgently seeking efficiency and sustainability of clinical trials in global health. (co-authored) in The Lancet Global Health (May, 2021) Health-related quality of life among patients with bipolar disorder in rural southwestern Uganda: a hospital based cross sectional study. (co-authored) in Health and quality of life outcomes (2021). Long-Term Effect of Group Support Psychotherapy on Depression and HIV Treatment Outcomes: Secondary Analysis of a Cluster Randomized Trial in Uganda. In Psychosomatic Medicine (2022). Black American maternal prenatal choline, offspring gestational age at birth, and developmental predisposition to mental illness. Schizophrenia Bulletin (2020). The impact of group counseling on depression, post-traumatic stress and function outcomes: A prospective comparison study in the Peter C. Alderman trauma clinics in northern Uganda. In Journal of Affective Disorders. How COVID-19 has fundamentally changed clinical research in global health. In The Lancet Global Health (2021). Association of task-shared psychological interventions with depression outcomes in Low- and Middle-Income Countries: A systematic review and individual patient data meta-analysis. In JAMA Psychiatry (2022). The role and challenges of cluster randomised trials for global health. In The Lancet Global Health (2021). Effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of group support psychotherapy delivered by trained lay health workers for depression treatment among people with HIV in Uganda: a cluster-randomised trial. In The Lancet Global Health (2020). Mental health interventions for persons living with HIV in low- and middle-income countries: a systematic review. In Journal of the International AIDS Society (2021). Prevalence and factors associated with depression symptoms among school-going adolescents in Central Uganda. In Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and Mental Health (2016)