Ronald Kiguba
Dr. Ronald Kiguba completed his PhD in Pharmacoepidemiology on 30 March 2016. He has a Bachelor of Pharmacy (BPharm) and a Master of Clinical Epidemiology and Biostatistics (MSc.) from Makerere University. Dr. Kiguba is based at the Department of Pharmacology and Therapeutics, College of Health Sciences, Makerere University.
He is promoting research into the occurrence of adverse drug reactions and medication errors in the East African region. He is interested in promoting the practice of pharmacovigilance and the scale-up of pharmacoepidemiological methods to understand medication use and medication safety issues in resource-limited settings where such data are limited. Documentation of medication-related harms in these settings is expected to foster improved medication safety practices.
His PhD study showed an extensive antibiotic prescription rate among hospitalized Ugandan patients with rampant missed-dose days. The risk of missing a day of prescribed antibiotic treatment was highest on the first day. Dr. Kiguba has since participated in local and international drives to promote antibiotic stewardship. His research findings also noted a high risk of suspected adverse drug reactions linked to the use of antibiotics generally known to be safe, namely, ceftriaxone, levofloxacin and metronidazole. He proposed pharmaceutical quality testing of various generics of the antibiotics on the market.
Dr. Kiguba has participated in national-level stakeholders’ engagements on the use of medicines and their safety which involved the general public through media campaigns; policymakers and healthcare practitioners from the Uganda Ministry of Health, National Pharmacovigilance Centre and health facilities around Uganda. He participated in the drive to revise the existing national pharmacovigilance forms for Uganda where it was proposed to combine the adverse drug reactions reporting forms for medicines and vaccines.
His publications can be viewed at https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Ronald_Kiguba and he welcomes research collaborations on the use and effects of medicines.
His Cambridge and Uganda Mentors include: • Prof. Sheila M. Bird • Prof. Charles Karamagi • Prof. Waako Paul