CBID Women's Health

Today was a day of synthesizing notes and information from the day before and packing for our next stop in Uganda - Jinja. Kim Hwang is still unwell but fortunately on the rise with his health! The traveler’s bug caught up with Pav and he was sadly out of commission for the day :( However, within our team at least, the women were, in fact, healthy. We had breakfast and lunch at the guest house and then loaded our bags into the vehicles to head to Jinja. Kim Hwang was well enough to travel and did so in a separate car. Pav was also able to stick it out for the two hour drive to Jinja. We watched the scenery change from the Kampala cars and boda bodas to the vegetation of the Mbira forest and then past some tea fields. By golden hour, we had arrived in Jinja and I had multiple moments of disbelief that we were right next to the NILE RIVER - and the source of the Nile at that!

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.

Today was our first full day in Kampala! We woke up to a beautiful sunrise from our guest house. A few of us ate a breakfast of pancakes, eggs, and coffee. After breakfast, we met with Darious for the first time in person. Darious is one of our collaborators in Uganda. He is a Geographical Imaging System (GIS) specialist and is currently a Field data coordinator for the Preterm Birth Initiative (PTBi). After our meeting, Darious led Leanne, Pav, and I to Makerere University for a tour of the campus.

Arrival at Doha airport was a breath of fresh, hot air. Janis described stepping out of the plane like stepping under a hairdryer at full power. In the seconds that we transited between the plane and the passenger bus, and then from the passenger bus into the airport terminal, we were baked by the full elements that Qatar has to offer. That is no surprise though, for as we glided into a descend at Hamad International Airport, we also descended upon a glistening city center which sat amongst vast stretches of dry desert sand in all directions.

And we're off! Our flight was a lovely 13 hours and I for one slept like a baby for most of it.We got off the plane in Doha and were met with a wall of "feels like" 126 deg F air. We went through customs to enter Doha during our overnight layover but unfortunately a couple of members of our group got held up due to a new rule related to the source through which accommodations in Doha are booked. Seven of us met up with Javid, our guide during our night in Doha and made our way to the Museum of Qatar. We admired the unique architecture of the museum even though