Makerere University Scientific Symposium

A busy week, but one of the best so far!

I spent most of the week at the 6th annual Makerere University College of Health Sciences Scientific Symposium. There were lots of great presentations from researchers, students, and NGO workers from around Uganda, as well as a few pretty dismal reviews of topics such as the scientific basis of reflexology (NONE) and whether 'speaking in tongues' is associated with hysteria (seriously??). My favorite presentations (besides UVP's of course) were during the session on medical education at the end of the conference.

Uganda Village Project staff members gave presentations on our surgical referral networks, village health teams, sanitation campaigns, and recommendations for international volunteer programs. I was hoping that the conference would be an opportunity for UVP staff to share some of their experience with others, raise UVP's profile in the country, and network with faculty and students from Makerere (for our internship program). We succeeded at the first two objectives, but because there were fewer students at the conference this year compared to past years, I wasn't as happy with our ability to network. I hope that next year the conference has enough money to better subsidize students, who should be one of the main audiences for the conference.

On Friday afternoon, I gave a presentation about health and human rights education in the US. My goal was to share some of the PHR student program's experiences in this area, and to start a conversation with students and faculty about incorporating health and human rights education into the health professional school curricula in Uganda. Given the situation with student attendance I describe above, I was pretty nervous by lunchtime Friday that I'd be speaking to a room full of chairs.

However, much to my delight, the presentation was pretty well attended (thanks to being just before the closing keynote), and lots of Makerere faculty members, health workers, and even the WHO Special Representative to Uganda came up to me afterward to trade contact information and share their perspective on health and human rights education.

One of the most inspiring conversations I had was with a health promoter from Pallisa district who shared stories of patients dying because doctors and nurses wouldn't treat them without getting paid first. She noted indignantly, "This is a human rights issue! These people do not need to die!". Bingo.

Several of the health workers from various parts of the country invited me out to their districts to see what's going on where they work. I really hope I get a chance to take them up on these generous offers.

Random Notes:
- Went to an amazing Thai restaurant in Kampala which can actually make green curry, pad thai, and tom kha. Ate there twice this week.
- Bought a helmet for my boda-boda rides. Very, very happy about this, partly because I'll be safer and partly because I won't show up to work with a thick layer of red dust on my face anymore.