Institute for Global Health Director Jonathan Samet traveled to Uganda in early January to tour health facilities and discuss partnerships with area organizations.
At the first meeting, Samet sat down with members of the Twezimbe Development Foundation (TDF), a nonprofit based in Uganda’s Mawokota North, in the Mpigi district. The group reviewed the foundation’s development activities and inaugurated the board of directors and board of trustees, of which Samet was named chairman. As chairman, Samet will provide high-level oversight for the organization.
Members at the meeting included, among others, Uganda Minister of Trade and Industry Madame Amelia Kyambadde, who founded the Twezimbe Development Authority and now the TDF, and Ugandan fitness consultant and board member and Institute supporter Robert Ssebugwawo.
Samet spent a day in Uganda’s Mpigi district, touring facilities built by the Twezimbe Development Association, a grassroots community development agency founded by Madame Amelia. The group visited the Mpigi District Hospital and saw its new medical waste incinerator, which was partially funded by donations from the Institute; it also visited Mawokota North, a new clinic that serves mothers, children and HIV/AIDS patients.
At Makarere University, Samet met with Vice Chancellor Venansius Baryamureeba and Dean William Bazeyo, of the School of Public Health, to discuss collaborative research opportunities and placements for students.
Samet also visited the new Centre for Tobacco Control in Africa, a collaborative anti-tobacco initiative affiliated with the World Health Organization and Makarere University, to discuss collaborative research opportunities in Kampala, Uganda, where the organization is based.
