Our trip to Uganda ended with a dinner hosted by Pfizer in Uganda. Pfizer has made a commitment to supporting treatment for AIDS and HIV disease in Uganda. In fact, Pfizer has provided funding for the Academic Alliance for AIDS Care and Prevention in Africa. At dinner the Pfizer officials provided our delegation with an overview of the Academic Alliance and its efforts and experiences to date. The Academic Alliance was formed in 2001 as a partnership between infectious diseases and public health experts in Uganda and North America to address HIV/AIDS related care, treatment and prevention issues. The centerpiece of the Academic Alliance is the Infectious Diseases Institute which broke ground in 2003 and is slated for completion in early 2005. IDI will house the Academic Alliance’s clinical, training, laboratory, research, prevention and outreach programs. The World Bank also pledged to assist the Academic Alliance with the development of regional training capacity and expansion to Kenya, Eritrea and Ethiopia. Joining our hosts, Pfizer, were their in country partners who spoke of the importance of public/private partnerships—as illustrated by Pfizer commitment and engagement.

Our trip to Africa ended in Uganda. After a full nights sleep, we left Kampala for the airport in Entebbe. For many of us, just the sound of Entebbe brought back memories of a different Uganda—one ruled by Idi Amin, a time when the people of Uganda were dying under the rule of a very different individual. Idi Amin died while our delegation was visiting Uganda. And as the nation debated whether his body be allowed back into Uganda for burial in Uganda, our delegation debated it as well. Amin—as we understood “his Uganda” and Uganda’s present day reality are radically different. However they do have something in common. HIV has wreaked havoc upon Uganda, much like Idi Amin did during his tenure as president. Uganda is just now building its way out of the legacy of that time and of a different type of national leadership. Uganda’s current President Yoweri Museveni has committed his government to minimizing the impact of HIV/AIDS in Uganda and he has also committed himself to leading the charge. He has committed himself and his administration to saving his country from another form of devastation: AIDS.