Dr Diana Atwine Retained as Health Ministry Permanent Secretary in Major Reshuffle

Dr Diana Kanzira Atwine has once again been entrusted with one of the most critical positions in Uganda’s public service. Following a recent reshuffle of senior public service officials by President Yoweri Museveni, Atwine was retained as the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Health. Her continued presence at the helm maintains vital institutional experience as the country deals with healthcare financing, service delivery, and disease preparedness.

Born in 1973 in Kayunga District, Atwine’s early life was marked by the tragic violence of Uganda’s bush war, where her father and family members lost their lives. Supported through government education initiatives after the National Resistance Army came to power, she pursued a path in medicine. She attended prestigious schools before earning her Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery from Mbarara University of Science and Technology, later specializing in internal medicine with a Master of Medicine.

Her career evolved from clinical practice at St Francis Hospital Nsambya and research at the Uganda Joint Clinical Research Centre to serving as a personal physician and Private Secretary in charge of Medical Affairs at State House. In 2009, she took charge of the newly established Health Monitoring Unit. In this role, she actively investigated corruption, targeted medical theft, and pursued health workers guilty of professional misconduct.

Appointed Permanent Secretary in November 2016, Atwine transitioned from investigating failures to leading the national institution responsible for correcting them. Over the past decade, she has navigated the health system through multiple major public health crises. These included Ebola outbreaks in 2019, 2022, and 2026, alongside the massive logistical and administrative challenge of managing the COVID-19 pandemic from 2020 to 2022.

Working alongside health leadership to coordinate testing, treatment, and resource allocation, Atwine has cemented her reputation as a resilient crisis manager. With further postgraduate training in project planning and quality improvement from the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, her journey from a war survivor to the administrator of Uganda’s national health system remains an extraordinary public service story. Read the full report on Nile Post.