Panelist, Session 2: Pandemic Preparedness and Building Resilience
Dr Agnes Nanyonjo is a Postdoctoral Research Fellow in Rural Health and Care at the Lincoln International Institute for Rural Health (LIIRH). She holds a PhD, Master of Medical Science (Public Health, Epidemiology), and Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery (MBChB). Her research has focuses on understanding the adoption of health system strengthening interventions and policies, quality of health care, health inequalities and impact evaluation.
In times of crisis, the role of research is to generate evidence on what is the nature of problem? Where is the problem? Who is most affected by the problem and how can we deal with the problem? That being said, pandemics give no warnings, we should not wait for disease outbreaks to understand things that we should have known before. Research in times of crisis should serve to enhance our understanding of how existing control measures can be improved to swiftly end the crisis and prevent future crises.