University of Virginia Health System

Makerere University

Institute for Global Health - Uganda

Makerere University is Uganda’s premier institution of higher learning. With a student population of over 30,000, it ranks as one of the largest in East and Central Africa. It is located on Makerere hill, one of the many hills on which Kampala, the capital city of Uganda is built. The main campus is about 5km to the north of the city centre covering an area of 300 acres (two square kilometres). The location offers an excellent academic environment, because the University is free from disturbances associated with city locations.

Of the nearly 40 million people worldwide infected with HIV, 28 million are in Africa. And of those 28 million, only about 100,000 currently receive treatment for the disease.
Despite a few African countries’ efforts to prevent the disease, HIV/AIDS is spreading at an alarming rate with few resources to treat the disease. But now, an alliance of infectious disease experts from Africa and North America is partnering to build Africa’s first HIV/AIDS medical training facility to help combat the disease. The facility is located at Makerere University in Kampala, Uganda and opened in August 2004.
Dr. Michael Scheld, professor of infectious diseases and clinical neurosurgery at the University of Virginia Health System and past president of the Infectious Disease Society of America (IDSA), is one of the co-founders of the Academic Alliance for Aids Care and Prevention in Africa (AAACP). Along with a financial commitment from Pfizer Pharmaceuticals, the AAACP built the center to train medical personnel in the most appropriate techniques and to bring the highest standard of care to patients, including the newest anti-retroviral drugs, which treat AIDS and prevent the spread of HIV. Scheld worked with the architects in Uganda to help design the building, and assisted with the development of the center’s curriculum.

“We have commitments for some drugs, but not all that we need. We introduced fluconazole into Uganda and it will be our responsibility to make sure that distribution happens in an appropriate way” , Scheld said. While fluconazole is not a treatment for AIDS, it has been proven to be highly effective in treating two opportunistic infections: cryptococcal meningitis, an infection of the lining of the brain that afflicts 15-20 percent of AIDS patients, and esophageal candidiasis, an infection of the esophagus that afflicts more than 30 percent of AIDS patients. The mortality rate of those suffering from untreated meningitis is more than 90 percent.
Uganda, a nation of 23 million people, was selected for the center because of the country’s early commitment to combat AIDS. Scheld said that Ugandan President Yoweri K. Museveni has been personally committed to fighting the epidemic since 1989 when he formed the Office of AIDS. Before President Museveni instituted an AIDS prevention campaign, 30 percent of the population was living with the disease as compared with only 8 percent today. With the exception of Senegal, the remaining African countries have not been as successful with HIV/AIDS prevention.