Thembo champions public health in Uganda

By William Opio

Tucked in the rugged hills of Kagadi district in western Uganda, where transport is a daily battle and health facilities are few and far apart, one man has emerged as a beacon of hope and transformation. 

Selevano Thembo, an alum of Uganda Christian University (UCU), is a seasoned public health professional who has dedicated his life to community disease surveillance and maternal health outreach. Thembo’s journey from a humble village boy in Kasese to a national frontline epidemic responder and maternal health advocate is nothing short of remarkable.

Born on September 1, 1971, in Kyabolokya, in the western Uganda district of Kasese, Selevano was raised in a rural environment with values of hard work, community service and faith. It’s even possible that his faith, the Catholic faith, just helped to cement these virtues in him. The fifth-born of 11 siblings grew up surrounded by abundant food, gardens and livestock, which his parents managed with the help of hired workers. As a child, Thembo showed entrepreneurial spirit by planting beans from the seeds given by his parents and selling them to buy clothes. 

Church life played a central role in his upbringing, he says. As an altar boy, Thembo walked nearly 12 kilometers (7.5 miles) to serve during mass. When he didn’t serve, he prayed with his family at their home church. His church activities also extended to the Xaverian Movement, where he served as a leader. 

Selevano Thembo communicating to Village Health Teams on community disease surveillance and early reporting

The Xaverian Movement is a Catholic lay movement that is focused on charity and evangelization. The movement underscores humility, love, peace and service, ideals rooted in the spirituality of Saint Francis Xavier, a missionary known for his outreach to the needy.

Despite the daily challenges of rural life, such as fetching water from distant rivers, grazing animals, and enduring long walks to church and school, Thembo’s educational journey blossomed. He began his studies at a church school before joining Nyabugando Primary School in 1979, where he eventually served as one of the student leaders – head boy. 

From Nyabugando, Thembo joined secondary school in 1986, where he was one of the pioneer A’level students at Kasese Secondary School. He completed A’level in 1994. 

For four years, he was involved in commerce, trading in coffee and passion fruits, before returning to school in 1998 for a certificate course in Environmental Health at the School of Hygiene in Mbale.

Thembo’s deployment to Mpeefu in Kibaale district placed him at the heart of Uganda’s recurring public health challenges — cholera, dysentery, river blindness and schistosomiasis. And he believes that it is this exposure to such outbreaks that shaped his calling as a health surveillance officer. 

To widen his knowledge base, Thembo pursued a Diploma in Health Administration at UCU, and then a bachelor’s degree in the same field, before enrolling for a Master of Public Health Leadership (MPHL) under the Save The Mothers program. The postgraduate course, he says, equipped him with multidisciplinary tools to lead change in maternal and child health.

Thembo (right) with Village Health Team coordinators as they prepared to pin up MPOX posters and carry out risk communication

According to Thembo, his passion to serve was ignited during his training and fieldwork in outbreak-prone communities. 

His work during some of Uganda’s deadliest outbreaks was both heroic and harrowing. In 2012, while managing a cholera outbreak in Ndaiga, on the shores of Lake Albert in western Uganda, he found himself at the center of an Ebola outbreak that had already claimed nine lives, including a clinician. Despite the fear and isolation that followed, Thembo remained on the frontline. He later played critical roles in managing outbreaks of Covid-19, Crimean Congo Hemorrhagic Fever, Rift Valley Fever, and Ebola.

Now serving as the focal person for Infection Prevention and Control (IPC) in Kagadi district, Thembo conducts facility orientations and mentors community health workers. His day is often filled with responding to alerts, coordinating partner support, field visits and managing surveillance reports. 

On one occasion, Thembo had the difficult responsibility of unearthing a domestic lie during the Covid-19 pandemic. A man falsely reported his wife as having signs of Covid-19 in an attempt to punish her, highlighting both the power and vulnerability of health systems in volatile community contexts.

In 2023, he launched the Ndaiga Maternal and Child Health Project, to improve antenatal care in hard-to-reach areas. With community input, a boat and engine owned by village leaders were repurposed for monthly transport of pregnant women to health facilities. Each mother contributes sh5,000 (about $1.40) for fuel. Boda boda riders charge up to sh20,000 (about $5.40) to take patients to the same destination. Thanks to this innovation, antenatal coverage in the area rose from 23% to 63%.

The Ndaiga Maternal health facility now allocates Primary Health Care funds to support ANC outreaches and immunization drives. 

His eight children and a supportive wife, he says, understand his demanding work, and hence find joy in the results of his service.

To young professionals entering public health, Thembo offers mentorship, not just with words but with actions, by practicing his vision of community-centered health improvement.

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