Understanding Uganda’s MDG Progress
2015 may be just another calendar year, or maybe not, as it marks the final year for the implementation of Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) 2015. The implementation years for the MDGs were 1990 to 2015. It is also a year away from 2016 – when Uganda holds its next general elections. I would like to […]
Throw Back to Uganda 1991
The HIV incidence in Uganda is on the rise. According to the Ugandan Ministry of Health, the prevalence of HIV has increased from 6.4% in 2005 to 7.3% as of September of last year. As seen in many other countries around the world, the young and single cohort is not the only segment driving the […]
Women’s empowerment: The key to social and economic development
There is no tool for development more effective than the empowerment of women – Kofi Annan Centuries ago such topical discussions weren’t publicly viable as individual’s perceptions were highly perverted and mutually exclusive of today’s situational analysis. Many families, societies and nations at large have failed to embrace the contribution of women towards development. Economies […]
Tackling research myths within health focused non-profits
As a public health researcher striving to make a real change, I’ve been learning invaluable lessons from working in the non-profit sector. Research outcomes may be too technical to make a direct impact on a population, however non-profit programs also may not be as straightforward as they seem. To understand the mechanisms and processes of […]
All The Pieces Matter
This past holiday season, something amazing happened. HBO released a remastered version of its stellar show The Wire. IN HD. If you haven’t watched The Wire, I strongly encourage you to stop whatever it is you’re doing, set aside this blog post, and start binging posthaste. It’s been a genuine pleasure for me to revisit […]
The Journey to Becoming a Great Leader
One of my great achievements has been joining a global movement which is fighting for health equity at Global Health Corps (GHC). I have been inspired by the GHC approach of producing great leaders that are committed to social justice, that collaborate, those that inspire and mobilize others, those that are innovative, result oriented and […]
What a name means to me
Ellen, Lupiya, Sarah, Kimena, Ben, Mangesha. We all have names and usually we don’t have just one but 2 or 3 or 4 or more. Names give us a sense of identity. We associate them with who we are. We are given names or nicknames out of affection. This is why when a teacher with […]
From working in the field to becoming a GHC fellow
I joined Partners in Health’s (PIH) Rwandan sister organization, Inshuti Mu Buzima (IMB), in September 2013. My short term contract was for 9 months working in the field as a Research Interviewer. I was working on the Verbal and Social Autopsy (VSA) project where the objective was to find out the probable causes of mortality […]
The confusing maze of influences and influencers in advocacy
During the Article 25 Global Day of Action, a group of Ugandan-based Global Health Corps (GHC) fellows joined Uganda Development and Health Associates (UDHA) on the islands of Kaaza and Serinyabi in Mayuge District. These islands are located in Lake Victoria, and have no health facilities. The series of events started the night of October […]
Increasing passion for global health through health promotion in rural Burundi
Being born in a country where public health is an everyday challenge and growing up in a country where women and children die because we lack skilled health care professionals, drugs, and health infrastructure is enough to make anyone pessimistic. Talking about change can be seen as just a distraction, especially for the mother sitting […]