Connection profile

Knowledge Management Officer Ssesanga Dennis Ernest

About: Ssesanga Dennis Ernest is a public health technologist, youth advocate, published poet, science communicator and social entrepreneur who strives to use information communication technology (ICT) to improve the Health of his community. He is a global health corps alumni previously attached to Intrahealth International where he spearheaded the activation and adoption of the Education Management Information System(EMIS) under the USAID funded Strengthening Human Resources for Health(SHRH) Project. The EMIS is an ICT management tool that “integrates people, technology and practices in the process of collecting, capturing and processing data from different sources to generate information to aid informed decision making for operation and managerial functions of the education and sports sector. He currently works at Uganda Virus Research Institute(UVRI) as the Knowledge Management Officer supporting the EACCR/EDCTP program. From May 2015- June 2018, he worked as the Marketing and Public Relations Officer at Marie Stopes Uganda. While at Marie Stopes, he conceptualized the First Marie Stopes Health App Challenge 2016- a hackathon that attracted 13 universities and has been key in the development of the youth ambassador SRH program which has helped increase uptake of reproductive health services among the youth. He has been part of the team that rebranded Marie Stopes Uganda to give it a new image. Formerly as a Google Business Associate Intern, his team organised the Google SSA communities’ summit 2013. He previously took on the lead actor role in a health play entitled “The Twist” that advocated for male involvement in family planning. This was a play done while at university. He has excellent engagement with informational technology and social media platforms and previously worked as a Program Coordinator at Public Health Ambassadors Uganda (PHAU) where they organized the first world Aids Day flash mob in Kampala as a reproductive health promotion effort in getting to zero new HIV infections in 2014. He also conducts health education and promotion activities, including edutainment – an informative performance arts approach to education. He mentors other youth activists in the use of creative and performance arts, such as plays, poetry, narrative dance, puppetry, street/community Theater and flash mobs, as a means of educating young people about HIV/AIDS, STIs, family planning and unplanned teenage pregnancy. He holds a Master’s Degree in Public Health with interest in edutainment, social marketing and health information technology.