At dinner that evening, Ambassador Kolker, a seasoned diplomat with many years of foreign service in several countries across the African continent, spoke of the importance of maintaining pressure on our government, particularly the Congress, to fund President Bush’s Global AIDS initiative, especially now that treatment resources are available. Ambassador Kolker reminded our delegation after successful implementation of the multi-sectoral comprehensive prevention strategy now being “toted around the world,” Uganda was ready to utilize and expand the same networks in order to provide treatment. It was time to start. This sentiment was echoed by the Ugandans who had joined us for the dinner and for most of our three days. They included Drs. Jonathan Mermin, Peter Solberg, Frank Kaharuza, Rebecca Bunnell, and Miph Musoke from the CDC-Uganda office and Uganda Virus Research Institute. Robert Cunnane, Elise Ayers from USAID/Uganda and David Nanongo, Robert Ochai and Willy Were from TASO. Representatives from the Academic Alliance for AIDS Care and Prevention in Africa, Global Fund and World Bank also joined us for dinner and discussions of the next steps in the partnership in the fight against AIDS in Uganda.

After attending a morning worship service at the Kampala Pentacostal Church, an English Speaking Community Church established to ‘bring healing to the city and the nation,’ I joined our delegation for a briefing at the Joint Clinical Research Center — the equivalent of the NIH in Uganda. This Center of Excellence was established by President Yoweri Museveni in 1990 to address the problem of HIV/AIDS, which was then at its peak. Its main objectives are to carry out research on AIDS and AIDS related conditions, including prevention and treatment research; to provide support for training; and to foster collaborations both within Uganda and internationally.

JCRC was the first to use ARV in an organized manner in sub-Saharan Africa—in 1992. Under the direction of Dr.Peter Mugyenyi, JCRC has grown into one of the best research institutions in Africa, employing a staff of more than 120 health specialists and scientists. JCRC now has a program to expand ARV access beyond Kampala to the districts. It established two satellite clinics in Eastern and South Western Uganda, which currently serve more than 1000 patients on ARVs. In addition to treatment—JCRC is pioneering three studies to define more user friendly, most cost effective and less toxic antiretroviral drug regimens for Ugandans. JCRC conducted the first ever HIV vaccine trial in Africa.