MESAU Consortium Pays Courtesy Call on the Vice Chancellor, Mbarara
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MESAU PRODUCED QUARTERLY BY THE MESAU CONSORTIUM; A MEPI INITIATIVE Volume 1, Issue 2 • December 2011 MESAU Consortium pays courtesy call on Newsthe Vice Chancellor, Mbarara University of Science and Technology By Dennis Lukaaya he MESAU Consortium is a country-wide partnership of five medical schools in Uganda: Busitema University, Gulu University, Kampala TInternational University, Makerere College of Health Sciences and Mbarara University of Science and Technology in Uganda with Johns Hopkins University support to catalyze capacity and performance enhancements in medical education and relevant research with a focus on excellent, nationwide service delivery. The MESAU Principal Investigator, Professor Nelson K. Sewankambo led Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) representatives from the Consortium and the Harvard Global Health Institute institutions that paid a courtesy call at Harvard University in the US. “The Contents on Professor F.I.B Kayanja, the Mbarara relationship policy there is very good University Vice Chancellor in his office and if well studied, it can be emulated” u MESAU Consortium on Thursday October 6, 2011. They were said Professor Kayanja. pays courtesy call ushered in by Dr Samuel Maling the MUST- MESAU liaison. In response Professor Sewankambo noted that it was indeed an important u MESAU/ MEPI is a The Vice Chancellor warmly welcomed issue that has been raised on a number timely partner in KIU’s the team and was glad that they found of occasions and deserves attention. He move some time to call on him. He spoke of reiterated that, “as a consortium, this is the great commitment that Mbarara a challenge we can highlight since we University attaches to the MESAU have a big voice’’. He informed Professor u The 2nd annual Consortium initiatives and noted that Kayanja that the Consortium was in an national family upbeat spirit and progressing well with it had gone a long way in assisting medicine scientific the training of health professionals at great enthusiasm and commitment Mbarara Medical School, “we appreciate of its members. The spirit to share the conference the work of MESAU at Mbarara resources under MESAU was indeed a University and are happy that we have very welcome innovation that has been u That unforgettable overcome many challenges through the bought into by other partners because MESAU initiative”. He suggested that the it demonstrates that, “it is about working Ride medical schools of Gulu, Makerere and together and not competition” an Mbarara sit down and come up with a idea that has impressed the National u The Numbers Game better system that would enhance the Institutes of Health (NIH). relationships with the teaching hospitals giving his experience of the excellent On the slow opening of Busitema Medical u MESAU PhD Fellows School, a concern to National Institutes and cordial relationship between Selected to pg3 MAKERERE UNIVERSITY 1 MESAU Newsletter EDITORIAL MESAU/ MEPI is a timely partner in Hello reader, Kampala International University’s move welcome you to our second to overhaul training of medical doctors in edition of MESAU News; a I quarterly publication of the Uganda MESAU Consortium in Uganda. MESAU (Medical Education for Services to All Ugandans) is a Ben Oonge, Kampala International University Medical Education Partnership and Management Service (COBERMS) Initiative (MEPI) Consortium in The doctors: patient ratio in Uganda is for four categories of the Kampala Uganda. so alarming with more than 1 doctor International University- Western attending to over 40,000 patients and Campus students -Medical, Nursing, This quarterly publication provides the situation is even worse in rural Clinical medicine and Community you, our stakeholder, with regular areas of the country where 80% of the Health, and pharmacy. updates from consortium members. population lives. In this second edition of the Under this approach, the following newsletter, we share with you the Poor distribution and use of traditional activities were conducted in the recent outcome of the visit by consortium training methods in medical schools are past: partly to blame. Majority of Ugandans member to Mbarara University of struggle to be seen by a doctor, with • A series of Community activities Science and Technology (MUST). many of them dying before being seen were organized in selected There was a rich discussion between by one. counties comprising of 16 the MUST Vice Chancellor Professor villages in Bushenyi District for Kayanja and his guests. Find out Amongst the several challenges is a total of 160 trainees from the what they discussed and how it the lack of effective deployment and University (those in COBERMS1 impacts the implementation of appropriate training programs for and COBERMS 2) who visited MESAU. medical doctors and other health the community. workers to fit the lives and needs of • They were divided into 16 Read about the improvements in people (especially rural settings) in batches with more than 10 Disease Endemic Countries (DECs). members in a team. A team teaching and research at Kampala leader was appointed by the International University, as a result Achieving equity and equality in the members of the team and each of activities and interventions health of people and effective access team was dispatched under the supported by MESAU. and delivery of health services in Sub supervision of a tutor in public Saharan Africa has been an area of major health to each village At Makerere University College global concern. Despite huge funds • Detailed demographic data of of Health Sciences, students have provided to improve health facilities and the population was carried out taken equitable services to all systems, Diseases Endemic Countries by individual home visits, using Ugandans idea to heart. Read (DECs) still suffer setbacks in providing interviews and a structured about the services they are offering sustainable health care for their questionnaire. people and meeting the Millennium to Uganda’s rural poor as they Development Goals (MDGs). • The data obtained was used also learn and gain the necessary to determine population attitudinal competence to work in So, improving the rural population’s distribution by age and sex, rural Uganda. access to health services and reducing Disease morbidity, level of the poor-rich differentials is the wish of education, no of families, How does MESAU contribute to every health professional in Uganda. marriageable ages in the the PEPFAR target of 140,000 new community, no of new births, health workers? Find out in this Effective training and deployment of the no of deaths, migration newsletter! next generation of medical doctors and status, student population, other health workers to contribute to unemployed population and better service delivery in rural Uganda other population description Plus; we unveil the new beneficiaries is the dream of Kampala International data. of the MESAU PhD scholarships. University; one of the universities with Read and celebrate with them! health training programs and a MESAU • The nutritional profile of the partner institution. community was evaluated in Plus a lot more reading that will respect of the type of food stimulate your interest in MESAU The university through partnership with eaten; cooking habits, types of further! MESAU/ MEPI has engaged students in a food available, nutritional value more innovative community outreach of the food, frequency of eating program where medical students spend and level of health education a total of six (6) weeks carrying out on food. Community Based Education Research 2 MESAU Newsletter An analysis of the information gathered during COBERMS placement was done by the different teams of trainees in the villages and the collected data were used to diagnose the health challenges of the community. Reports were dispatched to various stakeholders at the district for decision making. Generally, students liked being in the villages since they had established rapport and working relationships with the community members and on their final day they exchanged gifts with the people they interacted with during their stay. This, I think, is a milestone in inculcating the right attitude in student doctors. Their involvement in the various activities like cleaning of village water wells, health talks and community roundup cleaning programs, was also a good approach to enable them appreciate the conditions under which rural communities live. This activity was made possible by the funding from MESAU/ MEPI to Kampala International University with the main objective of increasing contact between the population and the medical trainees in Uganda. Kampala International University medical trainees Kampala International University medical trainees working with members of the community to clean conducting health education in one of the communities in water sources Bushenyi district From 1 MESAU Consortium pays courtesy call on the Vice Chancellor, Mbarara University of Science and Technology the opening of another much needed of Health (NIH), Professor Kayanja in a getting new focus towards its resolution. Medical School in Uganda at Busitema. candid peer advisory tone said that the They appreciated the peer advice and predicament of Busitema needed a clear welcomed the continued support Professor Sewankambo thanked the position from the Ministry of Education that they were receiving from the Vice Chancellor for the time accorded to to guide the National Council for Higher Consortium. Their pledge was not