Data for Health in Africa Meeting
&
5th DS-I Africa Consortium Meeting
23 - 29 August 2025
CEDI Centre, University of Ghana, Accra

Mr Wilber Ssembajjwe - Participant

Medical Research Council / Uganda Virus research institute & London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine (Statistician)

Wilber Joseph Ssembajjwe is a Ugandan statistician and mental health researcher affiliated with the Medical Research Council-UVRI & LSHTM Uganda Research Unit. He specializes in biostatistics, psychiatric epidemiology, and health systems research, with a focus on applying rigorous statistical methods to inform mental health interventions in low-resource settings. Wilber has co-authored more than 35 peer-reviewed publications, contributing to diverse research areas such as the integration of depression care into HIV services, psychiatric genetics, and the environmental determinants of mental illness. His recent work includes developing and supporting the HIV_+_D trial, a cluster-randomized study evaluating depression care within routine HIV treatment settings in Uganda. He has also conducted innovative analyses on how weather elements-such as temperature and rainfall-affect mental health outcomes in tertiary psychiatric facilities, offering novel insights into the intersection between climate change and mental health. In addition, Wilber has contributed to the Uganda Genome Resource project, expanding the role of African genomic data in psychiatric research. His cross-disciplinary approach integrates statistics, public health, and emerging technologies, advancing mental health research and care across sub-Saharan Africa.