Dr Ssali Sarah

Names and Title: Sarah N. Ssali, PhD, Assoc. Prof/DEAN

Organisation: School of Women and Gender Studies, Makerere University

Qualification: PhD International Health Studies, MA Gender Studies, BA Social Science (Political Science and Public Administration)

Current Role: Assoc. Prof. and DEAN, School of Women and Gender Studies and Director, ARUA CoE Notions of IdentityDirector, ARUA Centre o Excellence in Notions of IdentityChair, Next Generation of Social Sciences Africa, Social Science Research Council, NYC

Also member of: Advisory Boards of Social Innovation in Health Initiative; National Bio-Safety Committee of the Uganda National Council of Science and Technology; Mengo Hospital Research Review Committee and Vice Chair of the Uganda British Alumni Association

Personal Statement

Sarah Ssali is an Associate Prof. and Dean School of Women and Gender Studies, and the Director Centre of Excellence in Notions of Identity at Makerere University. She is a Social Scientist with a PhD in International Health Studies. She is an experienced researcher with vast experience in qualitative and quantitative research methods including surveys, social networks analysis, ethnographic methods, life histories, narratives, to mention a few. She has researched and published in the area of health systems, health financing, HIV and AIDS, post conflict settings, hidden behaviours and the oppressed minorities in society. Gender and ethical issues have been overarching principles in all her research. Sarah Ssali teaches identities, institutions and social transformation, which includes understanding how certain behaviours and identities become normalized and dominant. She also teaches Politics and the State from a gender perspective, as well as Fundamentals of Social Science and Health, highlighting gender relations in policy and practice, effects of policy and how policy shape identities and citizenship. She is currently involved in several research projects funded by UKRI, MRC, WHO and Makerere University where she plays different roles as Principal or co-investigator and researcher. She is also a member of the advisory board of SIHI (Uganda), a social innovation hub which show cases locally developed strategies for health improved. She will be responsible for the overall management and implementation of the project.

Select Research Leadership and Support

Principal Investigator, 2021 – 2023, Strengthening Capacity for Research and Policy Engagement in Shifting Notions of Motherhood and Fatherhood for Improved Children’s Wellbeing in Africa, UKRI GRANT_NUMBER: , ES/T01492X/1

Principal Investigator, Jun 2020 – May 2022. From Violence and Victims to Voices and Visions: Exploring the power of mindfulness to effect lasting positive change in post-conflict settings in Northern Uganda, in partnership with the Salamander Trust, UK, funded by Mind and Life, USA

Principal Investigator Oct, 2019 – April, 2020, Developing an integrated framework for addressing Population, Health and Environment for Uganda’s refugee and host communities, Makerere University Research Innovation Fund.

Principal Investigator, 2019 – 2020 Pilot of TDR intersectional gender analysis toolkit for infectious diseases of poverty research, funded by World Health Organization (Geneva) GRANT_NUMBER: B80216Investigator, 2018-2021, Investigator, Integrating Refugees into National Health Systems: Enhancing Equity and Strengthening Sustainable Health Services for All, funded by Medical Research Council (London) GRANT_NUMBER: MR/S013547/1

Principal Investigator, 2013-2019 – RiNGS RPC, Research in Gender and Ethics, Building Stronger Health Systems, A Cross DfID RPC involving ReSYST, ReBUILD, Future Health Systems, and CoMDIS Research Consortia. DFID.

Co-PI, 2010-2018 – ‘ReBuilding’ Health Systems in Post Conflict Northern Uganda, funded by DFID. Other participating countries were Sierra Leone, Cambodia, Zimbabwe and the UK.

Principal Investigator, 2015 – Barriers to Safe Childbearing Among Couples Living With HIV: Infectious Diseases Institute. It mainly involved focus group discussions at Kawempe and Kawaala health centres.

Co – Investigator – 2007-2012 Social and Behavioral HIV Research Capacity Building in Uganda (R24 HD056651), under Prof. Wabwire-Mangen (PI). In this study, I was responsible for the sub component of Activating HIV Clients as Change Agents, in collaboration with the RAND Corporation of USA, and the Centers for Diseases Control (CDC) Uganda and Tanzania.

Selected Contributions to Science

• Ssali, SN (2020) Gender, Economic Precarity and Uganda Government’s COVID-19 Response, African Journal of Governance and Development 9 (Special Issue 1.1), September 2020: Pp. 287-308
• Susannah H. Mayhew, Karen Newman, David Johnson, Emily Clark, Michael Hammer, Vik Mohan, Sarah Ssali, (2019) New partnerships, new perspectives: The relevance of sexual and reproductive health and rights for sustainable development, Health Policy, xxx (2019) xxx–xxx
• Esther Kalule Nanfuka, David Kyaddondo, Sarah N. Ssali, Narathius Asingwire, (2019), Paying to Normalise Life: Monetary and Psychosocial Costs of Realizing a Normal Life in the Context of Free Antiretroviral Therapy Services in Uganda, Journal of the International Association of Providers of AIDS Care Volume 18: 1-13
• Esther Kalule Nanfuka, David Kyaddondo, Sarah N. Ssali, Narathius Asingwire (2019), Social capital and resilience among people living on antiretroviral therapy in resource poor Uganda, PLOS ONE, Pp: 1-21
• Sarah N. Ssali, (2018), Neoliberal Health Reforms and Citizenship in Uganda, in Wiegratz, J. et al (eds.) Uganda, The Dynamics of Neoliberal Transformation, ZED Books, London, Pp: 178-198.
• Sally Theobald, Rosemary Morgan, Kate Hawkins, Sarah Ssali, Asha George5 and Sassy Molyneux, (2017), The Importance of gender analysis in research for health systems strengthening, Health Policy and Planning, 32, 2017, v1–v3
• Sarah, N. Ssali, Sally Theobald, Justine Namakula and Sophie Witter (2016), Building Post Conflict Health Systems: A Gender Analysis from Northern Uganda, in Jasmine Gideon, (ed.), Handbook on Gender and Health, Edward Elgar Publishing, Cheltenham, Pp: 327 – 350.
• Sarah, N. Ssali and Sally Theobald (2016), Using Life Histories to Explore Gendered Experiences of Conflict in Gulu District, Northern Uganda: Implications for Post Conflict Health Reconstruction, South African Review of Sociology, Vol. 47, No. 1, Pp: 81-98.
• Rosemary Morgan, Asha George, Sarah Ssali, Kate Hawkins, Sassy Molyneux and Sally Theobald, (2016), How to do (or not to do)… gender analysis in health systems research, Health Policy and Planning, Vol. 31 (8), Pp: 1069-1078.
• Esther Richards, Valerie Percival, Sarah Ssali & Sally Theobald (2015), Gender equality needs critical consideration in conflict-affected Settings in Development in Practice, 2015, Vol. 25, No. 3, 433–441
• Ssali Sarah, N., Glenn Wagner, Christopher Tumwine, Annette Nannungi and Harold Green (2012) HIV Clients as Agents for Prevention: A Social Network Solution, in AIDS Research and Treatment.
• Ssali, Sarah (2011), “Excluded from Within: Gender, Identity and Social Reconstruction in Post-Colonial Africa, in Mapadimeng, S.M. And Khan, S. (eds.), Contemporary Social Issues in Africa, Cases in Gabarone, Kampala and Durban, Africa Institute of South Africa (AISA), Pretoria (Pp. 195-215)
• Ssali Sarah N., Atuyambe Lynn, Tumwine Chris, Segujja Eric, Nekesa Nicolate, Nannungi Annette, Ryan Gerry and Wagner Glenn. (2010), Reasons for Disclosure of HIV Status by People Living with HIV/AIDS and in HIV Care in Uganda: An Exploratory Study, in AIDS Patient Care and STDs, Vol. 24 (10).
• Lynn Muhimbuura Atuyambe, Eric Ssegujja, Sarah Ssali, Christopher Tumwine, Nicolate Nekesa, Annette Nannungi, Gery Ryan and Glenn Wagner (2014), HIV/AIDS status disclosure increases support, behavioural change and, HIV prevention in the long term: a case for an Urban Clinic, Kampala, Uganda, in BMC Health Services Research 2014, 14:276