Uganda
Interdisciplinary Approaches to Public Health Interventions in a Low Resource Setting: A Case of Uganda
July 17-27, 2006

Rationale
Uganda is a beautiful country with few resources that has experienced many challenges since its independence from Great Britain in 1962. Although Uganda has made a remarkable recovery and become a major tourist destination, these challenges have affected both the economy and the health care system. It has endured emerging and re-emerging communicable diseases such as HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis, and Ebola. In most cases it has demonstrated an ability to curb down the epidemics, especially HIV/AIDS. More recently Uganda has been globally recognized as an example of “best practices” in intervention regarding the HIV/AIDS epidemic. This seminar focuses on key public health problems faced by the country and the interventions that are being implemented. Background lectures on Ugandan history and society will help place public health information in a local context. In addition, field trips will be organized to crystallize the issues for the participants.

Host Institution
This seminar will be hosted by the Makerere University Institute of Public Health (MUIPH) headed by professor David Serwadda, an infectious disease epidemiologist. This is a leading public health institution in Uganda with four departments: Community Health and Behavioral Sciences (host department); Health Policy, Planning and Management; Communicable Disease Control; and Epidemiology and Biostatistics. The MUIPH admits about 80 Master of Public Health (MPH) students per year (both distance and regular students), and offers a bachelors in environmental health sciences and public health nursing. MUIPH also teaches public health courses to the undergraduate students at the medical school. The entire Makerere University has a student population of about 40,000 and was established in 1922.

Seminar Leadership
The faculty leaders for the seminar will be Associate Professor John Kakitahi, Ms. Imelda Zimbe, and Mr. Lynn Atuyambe.

Professor Kakitahi is a specialist in public health nutrition and has wide experience in setting up feeding centers to aid severely malnourished children. He has served as Director of the Makerere University Institute of Public Health (MUIPH) and has ongoing projects with the University of Wisconsin.

Professor Kakitahi will be assisted by Ms. Imelda Zimbe a lecturer and researcher in community nutrition. Ms. Zimbe is a co-investigator with the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation project dealing with messages and information campaigns appropriate in the era of enhanced Anti-Retroviral Therapies.

Lynn Atuyambe is an Assistant Lecturer at MUIPH, specializing in public health and behavioral science, with an expertise in qualitative research methodology in the reproductive health of young people and HIV/AIDS surveillance.

Academic Content
Following are the tentative lectures, site visits, and study tours for this seminar:

Lectures

• The Political Sociology of Uganda in the Colonial and Post-Colonial Era
• Organization and Financing of the Ugandan Health Care System
• The Synergy between Public Health and Economic Development
• Inequities in Education and Health
• HIV/AIDS: Uganda and the Global Picture
• The Challenges of HIV/AIDS in the Era of Enhanced Anti-Retroviral Therapy
• Epidemiological Transition: From Diseases of Pestilence and Famine to Diseases of Lifestyle
• Emerging Problems of Public Health Importance: The Case of the Ebola Virus
• The Social, Political and Economic Issues of Implementing Malaria Control
• Public Health Nutrition Issues
• Control of Communicable Diseases in Uganda
• Public Health Issues in Complex Emergences: A Case of Northern Uganda
• How Can Training Institutions in Developing Countries Contribute to Overall
• Manpower/Capacity Building Globally
• Public Health Policy Making in a Low Resource Setting
• Donor Coordination and the Role of Bi and Multilateral Funding Agencies for Public
• Health Activities: A Case for Uganda

Site Visits/Study Tours

• Ministry of Health Uganda: AIDS Control Program
• Visit to the Infectious Disease Institute, Faculty of Medicine at Makerere University (HIV treatment clinics)
• Mwana Mugimu Nutrition Center at Mulago Hospital
• Tour of Kampala City/Kasubi Tombs
• Tour of Makerere University
• Tour of the Uganda Wildlife Center
• Visit the source of River Nile and Bujagali Falls - Junja District
• Visit to the National Museum and Theater
• The Ndere Troup cultural performances

Itinerary
This 11-day program will begin and end in Kampala, the capital city of Uganda.

Seminar Fee
$2,850