Having grown up in an extended family of many health workers ranging from nursing assistants who trained for merely two weeks to understand the basics of medicine to medical doctors who had spent over 5 years at the medical school not only learning that Paracetamol is pain killer but also understanding how a variety of biopolymers, such as polysaccharides, polyesters, and polyamides, are produced by microorganisms not forgetting the technology consisting of a physical intervention on tissues better known as surgeries and the human body and its diverse mechanisms providing complex antibodies that recognize foreign organisms such as viruses and bacteria.
And also recalling the joy my famous uncle George (Lufafa) a trained medical doctor always felt when a crying patient left his small clinic though not happy but with no flowing tears and also remembering the common phrase he always told clients “You are improving”, a sign of giving hope even after knowing that life may not be there in the next few hours, I developed the passion of becoming a medical doctor.
My interest in science widened when I joined secondary school. It gave me the opportunity to attend biology and chemistry classes. As time went on and as I attended many more biology classes, I become demotivated with the themes of classes including; dogs do not have sweat glands or have sweat glands only on their tongues. They do sweat, mainly through the footpads. However, dogs do primarily regulate their body temperature through panting (Dog Anatomy), changing color helps to regulate temperature and is used as a form of communication. Some species, such as the Smith’s Dwarf Chameleon, do change color as an effective form of camouflage (Chameleon Anatomy). Most of these sessions did not go well with me as I did not see any relationship between studying the dog anatomy, chameleon anatomy and dissecting of frogs and rats with seeing my neighbor in the village who was frequently passing loose or watery stools (Diarrhea)as a result of eating stale food because he did not have an oven to warm it early morning or had failed to pass out stool (Constipation) as a result of eating sweat potatoes (Mboli) without clean drinking water go home a happy man as they left my uncle’s clinic. As a result things did not go well with biology and chemistry and so I could not go on with my medical school dream.
I later joined university to study statistics and failing to join the medical school did not stop my passion for influencing the medical world. While working as Researcher and Field interviewer on the Uganda Demographic Health Survey I listened to various people, visited several homes, shared stories and experiences with people from different backgrounds, these touched my life more making me develop a passion for working among communities, trying to device means of better living. Joining the Infectious Diseases Institute in Uganda as a Global Health Corps Fellow has facilitated this as it has further made me not only understand the basics of medicine but also understanding that Atripla (efavirenz + tenofovir + emtricitabine) is a first line regimen recommended to be taken on an empty stomach the dose should also be taken at bedtime to minimize dizziness, drowsiness and impaired concentration and of course many more regimens. I have also learnt when to switch patients from 1st line to 2nd line putting in mind their WHO staging and CD4 count. I have also been able to advise several patients thus many now call me a “Clinical Statistician.”