USC Institute for Global Health representatives traveled to Uganda in February to meet with partners regarding ongoing work and kick-off a new maternal health storytelling project.
After attending the East African Non-Communicable Disease (NCD) Workshop hosted by the Uganda NCD Alliance in Kampala, the team sat down with Ugandan Minister of Health Ruhakana Rugunda as well as Jennifer Semakula Musisi, executive director of the Kampala Capital City Authority, to discuss partnerships and work in preventing and controlling NCDs.
Following up on previous obesity work, they visited Seeta High School to survey students and collect body mass index data. The students also answered evaluations created by USC STAR high school students working in the Institute’s global health lab. The same data will be collected at partner schools in Los Angeles and Panama City, Panama.
The team also met with partners at the Twezimbe Development Foundation—including its founder Madame Amelia Kyambadde, the Uganda Minister of Trade, Industry and Cooperatives—regarding a new project funded by Grand Challenges Canada. The pilot campaign, Maama Ne Maama, will collect and share the personal stories of mothers in the rural Mpigi District to promote use of clinical services to ensure safe birth.
While visiting Mpigi, Associate Director Heather Wipfli and Communications Manager Larissa Puro delivered an incubator crowd-financed by a GoFundMe campaign. Wipfli’s 10-year-old son, Ray, also distributed school supplies and soccer gear he collected from his community to two village schools. Both projects were featured on national TV.
