ABOUT MARGARET NAMPIJJA

Dr Margaret Nampijja is a medical doctor and research scientist in early childhood development (ECD). She was previously at the Medical Research Unit, Uganda Virus Research Institute, Entebbe before she joined APHRC in 2019. She holds a medical degree from Makerere University Kampala, and a PhD in Developmental Psychology from Lancaster University, UK. She is an alumnus of the Wellcome Trust funded MUII Postdoctoral Fellowship, and the African Research Leadership Excellence Fellowship (AREF).

Dr Nampijja is one of the few clinical developmental psychologists in East Africa. She has won distinctions, prestigious awards and research grants, and has several publications and conference papers on her name. She is based in the ECD Unit, within the Human Development Theme, and leads the Unit’s research focus on integration of ECD within health and other systems. She is involved in several projects and is currently leading the development of an ECD data platform aimed at pooling ECD indicators from different sources for holistic visualization to enable data-driven decision-making, programming, resource allocation and effective service delivery for optimum child outcomes in Kenya.

Dr Nampijja’s research interests are also in understanding fetal origins of disease and development in the African context particularly on how early life exposures (biological, environmental and social experiences) shape health and developmental outcomes of individual on the life course. She has examined developmental effects of maternal health during pregnancy, birth asphyxia, childhood infections, malnutrition, micro-nutrient deficiency, parenting and the quality of childcare and early interventions. Through her work, she continues to make significant scientific, policy, and public health contributions towards helping children in Africa, not only survive but also thrive to their full potential.