Uganda

Uganda is a landlocked country located in Eastern Africa, west of Kenya with a capital city of Kampala. The estimated size of the country is 236,040 sq. km (slightly smaller than Oregon). The total population is 24,699,073 with a distribution of 66% Christian, 16% Muslim and 18% others. The current birth rate is 37.5/1000 and death rate is 17.53/1000. The average life expectancy is 43.81 years. The estimated HIV prevalence rate is 6.1% (2001 EST,) and it is estimated that there are about 1.1 million adults living with AIDS.

Dr. Elizabeth Hudson (PGY3, IMPM) and Dr. Seema D'Souza (faculty) spent four weeks at Mulago Hospital which is affiliated with the Makarere University in Kampala. Makarere University (previously known as University of East Africa) is one of the oldest and most famous universities on the African continent with over 75 years of academic history. Mulago Hospital is an urban tertiary care facility located in Kampala. It is the largest government referral hospital, the main teaching hospital of Makarere University and the site of the Makarere University-Johns Hopkins University (MUJHU) Research House and Collaborative Immunology Laboratory.

Dr. Hudson and Dr. D'Souza attended the HIV clinic three days a week, spent time on the wards/inpatient rotations and taught medical students. They also attended the HIV courses/lectures offered at the university through the Academic Alliance (An alliance of infectious disease attendings from all over North America with Makarere University).

With the assistance of a Yale faculty member a site was identified in Rural Uganda (a Two hour drive from Kampala) with an HIV seroprevalence of about 60%. An initiative has begun to work with a group of local African doctors there, to apply for a grant to facilitate medical care of the HIV infected population as well as to begin collaborative research on antiretroviral naïve patients.