We had an early start to the day in Kampala today with a quick breakfast prior to our first meeting of the day. Kim Hwang was still feeling under the weather so it was Pav, Leanne, Janis, and in action. We finally got to meet Philip in person! He, like Darious, is one of our main collaborators in Uganda. He introduced us to his colleague, Elizabeth, who is former instructor to nurses and midwives anda current PhD candidate at Makerere University. Elizabeth has a research focus on intrapartum interventions to prevent birth asphyxia and we had a great discussion with her about the state of maternal health and gained insights on her specific experiences in nursing.
We then had some time for a second, more substantial, breakfast with Phillip after which we headed to the Infectious Diseases Institute (IDI) at Makerere University. The IDI building has one of the most impressive doors that we’ve ever seen! We set ourselves up in the boardroom while the IDI members filed in. We first shared information about CBID and our framework for innovation, our team’s areas of focus within Women’s Health, and our project’s timelines with the IDI group. Then, we got a chance to hear from all of the IDI members about their areas of research and challenging areas that are in need of innovation. It was a fruitful meeting and we are happy to have connected with IDI.
We went back to the guest house for lunch, and then met with Dr. Peter Waiswa, one of our advisors who is a pioneer in maternal and neonatal health initiatives in Uganda. We were able to get his thoughts and perspectives on our intentions for the trip and learned about some of his vast experiences within this area.
After that, we had multiple mini interviews with people from the Center of Excellence at Makerere University. We learned about their areas of research and their thoughts on the most pressing challenges in women’s health here. We caught up with Dr. Waiswa a little more and then our meetings were done for the day.
We soaked up some sun and vibed to some Ugandan music with the VectorCam team while synthesizing our notes from the day. We had dinner plans for the evening and before we left, Kim Hwang took a Covid test, which ended up being positive :( It was a rough blow but it was good to have some closure on the reason behind why Kim Hwang was feeling unwell. The rest of the team and the VectorCam team took Covid tests to be safe and the rest of us tested negative. We dined outdoors at a lovely restaurant and enjoyed our last dinner with the VectorCam team before both teams would part ways to head to different regions of Uganda.
