Uganda taps Christine Tashobya to chair new drug and health products regulator

Cabinet approved the new seven-member board at its 16th meeting, held Monday, November 9, 2026, according to a statement on the meeting's decisions. Dr Christine Kirunga Tashobya, a public health specialist with 35 years in public health and health systems governance, will chair the National Drug and Health Products Authority (NDHPA).

She arrives as Uganda retires the National Drug Authority framework, which was chaired by Dr Medard Bitekyerezo, who had led the drugs regulator since 2017 across several board terms. His attempted return to a ninth board in 2026 turned messy: the Inspectorate of Government ordered the appointment process stopped while it investigated alleged procedural irregularities.

The NDHPA was created by the National Drug and Health Products Authority Act, 2026, Act 5 of 2026, which President Yoweri Museveni assented to on April 27, 2026. The law repeals the 1993 National Drug Policy and Authority Act and widens the regulator's reach beyond medicines to medical equipment, diagnostic products, public health chemicals and cosmetics.

Tashobya is a medical doctor with a Master's degree in demography, a Master of Science in Health Policy, Planning and Financing from LSHTM, and a PhD in Public Health from Antwerp, Belgium. She spent over 10 years as a senior planner in the Ministry of Health and sits on Working Groups 1 and 2 of the International Taskforce on Innovative International Financing for Health Systems, set up by world leaders at the 2008 UN High-Level Event.

Her six fellow board members bring expertise in health law, biomedical engineering, finance, law and consumer representation: Dr Jerome Mpaata Owagage of the Pharmaceutical Society of Uganda, Eng. Tadeo Byabagambi on medical devices, Margret Nalwoga on financial management and forensic investigations, lawyer Catherine Adok, Dr Francis Omujal of the Natural Chemotherapeutics Research Institute, and Nasuur Gaddaffi representing young people and consumers.

Members serve four-year terms and can be reappointed once. The authority operates as a body corporate, able to own property, sign contracts and sue or be sued in its own name, while the board provides governance as the regulator absorbs its broader portfolio.