SSESANGA SUSAN

0752 / 0776-532363

03/09/2020

TO

THE HUMAN RESOURCES MANAGER

RAKAI HEALTH SCIENCES PROGRAM

Dear Sir/Madam,

RE: APPLICATION FOR A POST OF A VMMC COUNSELOR.

I am writing to express my interest in working with you as a VMMC counsellor.

I hold a Bachelor’s Degree in Social Work and Social Administration and I have received additional training in HIV/AIDS
Counselling, Research and Good Clinical Practice. I have over 10 years of working experience in the area of HIV/AIDS
prevention, treatment, care, research and am computer literate.

I am a good communicator, team leader, hardworking, innovative and results oriented person who believes in working as a
team as well as working under minimum supervision.

I have experience in community mobilisation of participants, counselling and I can work and stay in the local community. I
can also Link and refer HIV and AIDS patients into care as well as conducting follow up visits.

It’s my hope that given my education background, work experience gained while working in the field of HIV and AIDS and on
several clinical, and behavioural research studies, you will find my candidature the best to compete for the position of a
VMMC Counsellor.

Yours sincerely

SSESANGA SUSAN

susan

03/09/2020
 CURRICULUM VITAE

SUSAN SSESANGA

Email:suessesanga@gmail.com

Telephone: +256752 532 363; +256776 532 363

Profile:

Ssesanga Susan holds a Bachelors Degree in Social Work and Social Administration and I have received additional training
in HIV/AIDS related research, Good Clinical Practice and Counselling.

Susan has over 10 years of working experience in the area of HIV/AIDS research, care, prevention and treatment both at
hospital setting and in far remote communities. I am a good communicator, hard working, innovative and results oriented
person who believes in working as a team as well as working under minimum supervision while working among people with
marginalized health.

Key competencies and Skills:

Community mobilization skills, HIV/AIDS counselling skills, excellent interviewing and communication skills, strong
leadership and team work skills, good Inter-personal skills and can communicate in English, luganda and lusoga.

EDUCATION BACKGROUND:

Attendance date Training institution, college or school Qualification

2005 - 2009 Busoga University Bachelors of social work and social

Administration

2001 - 2003 YMCA Diploma in Social Development

1998 – 2000 Sancta Maria Teachers’ College Grade III teachers’ Certificate

1994 – 1997 St. Noah Mawaggali Senior Secondary School Uganda Certificate of Education (U.C.E)

1988 – 1994 St. Apollo Primary School Primary Leaving Examination (P.L.E)
OTHER ADDITIONAL TRAINING

Attendance Date Training/Workshops Qualification

December 2016 Human Subjects Research (Collaborative Institutional Training Initiative) CITI Certificate
Program-San Diego State University affiliation

August 2009 Ethics of Human Research (University of California Los Angeles) Certificate

August 2008 Good Clinical Practice by (IAVI) Certificate

June 2004 HIV and AIDS counselling by TASO. Certificate

2004 Introduction to MS Access by Medical Research Council. (MRC) Certificate

WORKING EXPERIENCE:

1. MakSPH- ENHANCED LINKAGE TO HIV CARE FOLLOWING HOME BASED HIV TESTING IN RURAL
UGANDA:
Position held: Research assistant (2017-2020 June)

This research study which is still ongoing is aiming at studying the rate of linkage to care after home based
HIV/Aids testing.

As a research assistant with MakSPH in the above research my duties were but not limited to;

 Conducting reminder calls and home visits to participants.

 Conducting follow up structured computer based interviews from the health facility as well as from the community.
 Receive CD4 and viral load results and deliver them to the participants as well as helping them interpret the
results as well.
 Attending monthly meetings and give feedback from the research participants to the study coordinator.

2. AMREF HEALTH UGANDA

Position held: Circumcision counsellor

At AMREF Uganda safe male Circumcision was aimed at reducing the rate of infection transmission especially
HIV among sexually active males above 10 years up to 59years of age. I worked at various health units in
Nakasongola and Luwero district. My roles as a counsellor were;

 Offering health education about SMC.

 Obtaining informed SMC consent.
 Giving information about after theatre care for the wound.
 Carrying out voluntary HIV/AIDS counselling and testing.

3. MAKERERE UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF PUBLIC HEALTH OPTION B+ STUDY, AT MITYANA REGIONAL

REFERRAL HOSPITAL. (DECEMBER 2013-MAY2016)
 Position held: Research Assistant / Counsellor.This research aimed at studying the Uptake, Retention and
Adherence to ART by HIV positive pregnant mothers initiated on ART during their first antenatal visit to the facility.

Summary of my tasks as a research Assistant /Counsellor

 Identifying eligible study participants for quantitative interviews as well as enrolling them into the cohort as per
protocol.
 Conducting adherence counselling among HIV and AIDS positive pregnant mothers.
 Soliciting for informed consent from eligible study participants and conducting quality face-to-face interviews.
 Checking completed interviews to ensure that all questions were asked and responses neatly and legibly
recorded.
 Collecting follow-up contact data and track participants to ensure good cohort retention and conducting follow-up
interviews at the facility or other venues outside the facility as per the participants’ desire.
4. HIV-BIO BEHAVIOURAL SURVEY AMONG FISHING COMMUNITIES AROUND LAKE KYOGA BY MAKERERE
UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF PUBLIC HEALTH. (JUL-NOV 2013)

Position held: Team lead and counsellor.

This was a survey carried out all around Lake Kyoga in districts such as Buyende, kayunga, Nakasongola, Apac,
Serere, Amolatar, Dokolo etc. The major focus was to find out the prevalence of HIV and AIDS infection among the
fishing communities through random sampling of the households to be tested. The team lead as well as counsellor was
responsible for;

 Leading the team in generating house hold lists and sampling in the study area as well as conducting census.
 In charge of field funds and effecting payments to survey participants, community guides, and district officials, and
present accountabilities to the project administrative assistant.
 Ensuring that all questionnaires and samples tally well and are all kept.
 As a counsellor I was responsible for providing pre and post test counselling to the study participants as indicated
in the study protocol.
 Perform any other duty assigned by the project manager.

5. MU-UCLA-UCSF VCT Study

Position held; Counsellor / Home visitor. August 2009-August 2012

This Study collaboration was evaluating ‘if the Enhanced linkage to care is more effective than the Usual Referral
to care model in increasing access to HIV care among the newly diagnosed HIV positive subjects’.

This was a study carried out by Makerere University in collaboration with the University of California Los Angeles-
University Of California San Francisco. It was a randomized controlled behavioural interventional trial evaluating ‘if
the routine HIV counselling and Testing model is as effective as the Voluntary counselling and testing in changing
behaviour among patients in Mulago hospital’.

My tasks here were but not limited to.

 Screen and recruit eligible study participants as well as conducting baseline and follow up interviews.
 Taking detailed contacts about the study participant as well as carrying out quality control.

Track participants who are not taken home or refused to be taken home.
Record addresses and detailed contact information in participants’ files to minimize lost to follow up and also
making home visits to participants and carry out computer assisted interviews and track participants who are
problematic and could be lost to follow.

6 .MEDICAL RESEARCH COUNCIL (JINJA FIELD STATION)

 Position Held: Interviewer/Field officer and Data entry officer.

(November 2004 to March 2009).

I worked with the Medical Research Council at its Jinja field station which was a clinical randomized study that was
comparing two modes of drug delivery that is, the Facility Arm and the Home based Arm. The facility arm involved
participants coming to the clinic monthly to pick their drug refills (ARVs) and the Home based arm involved field
officers taking drugs to participants’ homes monthly.

Working as an interviewer / field officer

Responsibilities were, but not limited to:

 Work together with study team to screen and identify eligible study participants, distributing research instruments,
editing research tools, ensuring quality control and completeness of data collection tools.
 Supervising other team members to ensure appropriate time management and ensuring good interviews
according to the protocol.
 Offering supportive counselling as well as identifying participants who had not come for the drug refills in the
facility arm and those who had not come for 6 monthly CD4 re bleeding in both the home based and facility based.
7. TASO Jinja. Volunteer counsellor (June 2004 - November 2004)

TASO is an NGO that caters for people who are both infected and affected with HIV/AIDS.

As a volunteer counsellor I was responsible for the following;

Key Tasks

 Providing ongoing supportive counselling to all the new clients before being recruited in TASO and also preparing
them for an HIV re test to prove authenticity of their HIV results.
 Providing enough information about TASO, Septrin prophylaxis and ARVs among others.
 Documenting clients’ physical addresses and coordinating with the field officers who could in turn visit the client
together with the counsellor if the client consents to being visited.

Key competencies and Skills:

 Community mobilization skills

 HIV/AIDS counselling skills
 Excellent interviewing skills
 Excellent communication skills
 Strong leadership and Team work skills.
 Good Inter-personal skills

LANGUAGES

Language Understanding Level Speaking Level Writing Level

English Excellent Fluent Excellent

Luganda Excellent Fluent Excellent

REFEREES
 1. Ms .Naigino Rose 2. Ms. Magoro Beatrice Ann 3. Dr. Steven Baveewo

Study coordinator Community Retention Officer, Senior manager

Neonatal, Maternal and infant Monitoring & Evaluation

MakSPH- Enhanced Linkage
to HIV Care following Home
Based HIV testing in Rural
Uganda
outcomes.(MUJHU)
CDC-US
Kawempe National referral Hospital.
Uganda Virus Research Institute
Entebbe

Certification

I, the undersigned, certify that to the best of my knowledge and belief, this data correctly describes me, my
qualifications, and working experience.

Signed

Susan

SSESANGA SUSAN

03/09/2020