Etheldreda Nakimuli-Mpungu

As of 2020 she is a professor, researcher, epidemiologist and psychiatrist at the Department of Psychiatry in the Faculty of Medicine, Makerere University.

This initial study led to a larger programme, which began in 2016. In this iteration, 1140 patients were treated at over 40 health centres across northern Uganda. The participants were again split into two: one half received "culturally appropriate psychotherapy", the others received general HIV education. The treatments this time were provided by trained, non-professional healthcare workers over a course of eight weeks. The group that received psychotherapy showed less incidences of major depression than the other group, reduced symptoms of PTSD, greater adherence to medication courses, lower rates of alcohol abuse, amongst other outcomes. Positive affects were greatest amongst male patients.

Nakimuli-Mpungu graduated in Medicine from Makerere University's Faculty of Health Sciences in 1998. When she announced the news to her mother, her mother replied: “OK, good. But you know it's not good just to be a doctor, you go to some doctors and they don't make you feel better. I want you to be one of the doctors who really do good for people". Her career began in Kampala, where she worked first in a surgical department, then with children. From 2001 to 2012 she worked in psychiatric care at Butabika National Referral Mental Hospital. In 2006, she is also resumed graduate studies in Psychiatry at Makerere University's College of Health Sciences and was awarded an MA. In 2012, she was awarded a doctorate in psychiatric epidemiology from Johns Hopkins University.

Etheldreda Nakimuli-Mpungu (born 1974) is a professor, researcher, epidemiologist and psychiatrist at the Department of Psychiatry in the Faculty of Medicine, Makerere University in Uganda. Her research is particularly focused on supportive group psychotherapy as a first-line treatment for depression in people with HIV. She is one of only five recipients of the Elsevier Foundation Award for Early Career Women Scientists in the Developing World in Biological Sciences, as well as listed at one of the BBC's 100 Women in 2020.