julius kirya, MPH

Monitoring and Evaluation professional. GHC alumnus, Global Health, Public health, data analyst, researcher, statistician, policy analyst #MasterChef

[julius kirya, MPH @juliuskirya]

@cpmayiga Omukwanaganya wa katikiro tereeza olulimi kino ekibanja ssi kya kwegezaamu. Abantu webasoma ensobi bajja kukilaba bulala

[julius kirya, MPH @juliuskirya]

Thank you @FBMH_UOM for highlighting my career path after graduating from Manchester with a Master of Public Health https://t.co/DTt7cwoDs9
It's a special privilege on my birthday.

[julius kirya, MPH @juliuskirya]

Building healthy futures: Addressing Hyperglycemia in pregnancy in Latin America https://t.co/IHGVXptwVs

[julius kirya, MPH @juliuskirya]

@MordecaiMuriisa @AllanSseky Here is your answer

[julius kirya, MPH @juliuskirya]

It’s almost here! I am presenting at this year’s @DHIS2 Annual Conference at the @UniOslo University of Oslo, Norway, 10-13 June. If you haven’t registered yet, it’s not too late! https://t.co/5dPn7805wu #DAC2025 #DHIS2

[julius kirya, MPH @juliuskirya]

March is Blood clotting awareness month
Here is a survival story that could help a friend
https://t.co/an52CyuR9W

[Patrick Oyulu, MPH @patrickoyulu]

I STEPPED ON A 'LANDMINE'.

In Uganda, when someone wakes up with swollen legs or mysterious pain, explanations abound. In Buganda, they'd say, "Yalinye Etalo," meaning they stepped on something supernatural. Among the Alur, it's "Enyonu Tho," an ominous declaration that someone has "stepped on an illness." But in urban Ugandan English, the phrase is more evocative -“He stepped on a landmine.”

Well, last week, I didn’t just step on one. I walked right into a whole field of them. And by some miracle, I lived to tell the tale.

For three weeks, I had nagging lower back pain, the kind you chalk up to a bad chair or an overenthusiastic day at the gym. But then, on Wednesday, my right leg started swelling. At first, I brushed it off -fatigue, maybe? Nerve compression? So I did what any rational person would do: lay on my back and propped my legs up against the wall like a makeshift yoga guru.

Except the swelling didn’t go away. Worse, I started feeling pain in my groin. Now, that’s the kind of pain you can’t unfeel. At 10:45 PM, my wife and I made the call -straight to Robert Wood Johnson Hospital Emergency Room in New Brunswick, NJ.

The moment the ER staff saw my leg, they didn’t waste time on small talk. "Suspected blood clot." Boom. Just like that, I had stepped on a landmine.

Without wasting time, I was admitted and they ran an X-ray, ultrasound, and CTA scans of my chest, abdomen, and pelvis. You know how, in Kampala, traffic jams snake back from Nakawa to Jinja Road like an unholy mess? That was my blood flow -clogged with clots from my right leg all the way to my pelvis.

Some were lounging in my iliac veins, waiting for the perfect moment to break free and wreak havoc. One wrong move and I could have had a pulmonary embolism -a clot shooting up to my lungs. The kind of thing that turns a regular day into an obituary.

And you know what people would have said?
"Eh! But he was fine just yesterday!"
"I think he was bewitched."
"Did he owe someone money in Kawempe Mbogo zone?"

Sigh.

There was no time to play games though. The vascular team at @RWJBarnabas decided: Thrombectomy. A delicate, urgent procedure where they go in and physically remove the clots -like carefully defusing live landmines.

On Thursday evening, I signed the consent form. It felt like signing a death warrant, 🤪. By Friday morning, I posted a cryptic tweet -just in case it was my last. It read: "Delicate! But it’s got to be done. God is in control. #LetsDoThis." No one gave it much thought.

Then, into the operating room I went. Two hours later, I woke up to the news: success. The clots -8 to 10 of them -had been removed. I even saw them. Thick, sinister, silent killers. Just chilling there, waiting for an opportunity to take me out.

Had they dislodged and reached my lungs? Game over. Brain? Lights out. But by some divine orchestration, we caught them in time.

If there’s anything this near-death encounter has taught me, it’s that landmines don’t announce themselves. One day, you’re fine. The next, you’re in the ER fighting for your life.

The CDC estimates that 100,000 people die from blood clots every year in the U.S.

The risk factors? Prolonged immobility, dehydration, smoking, obesity, surgery, genetics -you name it. Some of them are in our control. Others aren’t.

But here’s what is in our control:
▪︎ Move more. If you sit for long hours, get up and stretch.
▪︎ Stay hydrated -your blood is like traffic, and dehydration is like closing lanes.
▪︎ Watch for signs: swelling, unexplained pain, shortness of breath.
▪︎ Get checked if something feels off.

I got lucky. Many don’t.

So, my friends, take this as a Public Health PSA with a side of wit. Check your body. Listen to the whispers before they turn into sirens. Because in life, the worst landmines are the ones you never see coming.

I was discharged on Saturday evening. A special thank you to @RWJBarnabas Hospital New Brunswick, NJ Doctors and staff for saving my life. God Bless You!

[julius kirya, MPH @juliuskirya]

@KEdge23 @EndWokeness In diplomacy, such dress code indicates that we are at war and there is no time to dress well. So his dress code is a statement

[julius kirya, MPH @juliuskirya]

@DoraBae19 S00000

[julius kirya, MPH @juliuskirya]

But @mtnug @mtnmomoug I had my #5gb, I had even turned off my data waiting for a meeting to turn it back on and you just deplete it just like that? I need a serious explanation. Don't lie about background updates...the data was off

[Airtel Uganda @Airtel_Ug]

We’re excited to welcome @uetcl as they light up West Nile. Here’s to a future that’s full of promise and a million possibilities
#AReasonToImagine

[Yoweri K Museveni @KagutaMuseveni]

In Kitgum yesterday, I joined “Lakwara” Hon Lilian Aber in thanksgiving and testified to NRM’s deliberate approach to extending opportunities for Ugandans to contribute to the country. Lillian Aber is testimony that being disadvantaged at birth is not a disability, and when you work hard and trust God, you get all the opportunities.

[AIDEN KALIISA @AidenKaliisa]

Meet the beautiful hardworking hon @nakimuli_helen, the Shadow minister of Anti-corruption, who has never said anything about corruption on the floor of parliament.

[julius kirya, MPH @juliuskirya]

@Airtel_Ug Also, it brings the message that my number is not validated, yet I know it was, could you help me confirm if really it is not validated? because it was validated with my NIN

[julius kirya, MPH @juliuskirya]

@Airtel_Ug my number was disconnected yet it's fully registered. What's wrong? Please DM me for assistance

[julius kirya, MPH @juliuskirya]

@Airtel_Ug I have inserted it and the network bars showed, however, I seem not to be able to connect to the internet, could you please help me with that....? also does that mean it cannot work in my phone because now I have put it in another person's phone.

[julius kirya, MPH @juliuskirya]

@Airtel_Ug The number affected is 0702244226, its registered in my name Julius Kirya, its still in my phone but does not read...It has airtime, minutes and data but I cannot access them

[julius kirya, MPH @juliuskirya]

@UmemeLtd Dear KIRYA JULIUS, YAKA purchase of UGX 4000for a/c 04263138895 received by UMEME. Token: 06539201028841999272

[julius kirya, MPH @juliuskirya]

@UmemeLtd please sort me out. I paid for yaka and didn't receive a token. DM

[julius kirya, MPH @juliuskirya]

@UmemeLtd Dear KIRYA JULIUS, YAKA purchase of UGX 4000for a/c 04263138895 received by UMEME. Token: 06539201028841999272

[julius kirya, MPH @juliuskirya]

@UmemeLtd Exactly that's what I am talking about...I loaded this token first but it didn't load any unit on the yaka meter...that's what my complaint is about...how many units are under that token? Because they never loaded

[julius kirya, MPH @juliuskirya]

@UmemeLtd That's what I get everytime I insert it...but it never loaded any units until I used the second token...meaning for this particular token my units were bot loaded