Starting our second week of training, our first lecture was a Q&A session on “Tips for Living Abroad.” Safe health practices and being careful with transportation were the key messages. Note to self: Justin be careful when driving! And yikes, Ugandans drive on the opposite side of the road than we do in the US.
The first General Session of the day covere “Innovation for the Control of Neglected Diseases in Developing Countries.” The speaker Peter Hotez from Dept. of Microbiology, Immunology, and Tropical Medicine at GWU gave a dynamite lecture. He recently came out with a book “Forgotten People, Forgotten Diseases” and co-started the journal on the lecture matter (http://www.plosntds.org/). Among the most astounding things he discussed and taught around neglected tropical diseases, we learned of the NTD disease burden in our own country. Please visit the article – “Neglected Infections of Poverty in the United States of America” - (http://www.plosntds.org/journals/ntd/article/info%3Adoi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pntd.0000256).
Our next lecture on “State of the Science: Malaria” from Tom Wellem, MD, PhD, Chief of NIAID, provided an update on malarial research and treatment. I’ll definitely write more on malaria in posts when in Uganda. We were fortunate to hear a lecture from a leader in the field of malaria.
The rest of the afternoon I spent my time at the Embassy of Uganda initiating my visa for the year, so I missed the afternoon session this particular day. I finished the evening with scholar friends at the showing of “Dr. No” on a screen put on the National Mall lawn.
