Yesterday 30th June 2022, Mbarara University of Science and Technology (MUST) and Epicentre – a Research centre in Uganda organized a two-day Tuberculosis (TB) Research dissemination workshop to address TB diagnostics and therapeutics gaps in low income countries.
The workshop was held with the purpose of providing an opportunity to review the latest studies conducted on tuberculosis by Epicentre and its partners to reduce the burden of this disease in Africa.
The French organization of Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) founded the nonprofit organization Epicentre in 1987.
Since 1996, Epicentre has collaborated with the World Health Organisation as a center for epidemiological research and the response to emerging diseases.
There are satellite offices within each MSF sector in addition to the Epicentre head office (HQ) in Paris.
In Uganda, Epicentre was established within MUST and for years, it has done research that guides MSF in running it’s medical humanitarian activities. Epicentre does does research which MSF uses to formulate it’s medical policies.
The workshop was officiated by MUST Vice Chancellor Professor Celestino Obua who acknowledged the need to do more research in a bid to understand tuberculosis better.
He also highlighted the need to involve social scientists in the process of addressing challenges of prevention.
The managing director of Epicentre Mbarara Research Centre Dr. Juliet Mwanga Amumpaire explained the relevance of the workshop which was to be used as a platform of sharing knowledge and contributing to the prevention of TB among Ugandans.
She further explained the contribution of epicenter to Uganda’s health sector.
“Among the key principals of our work is having no restrictions on the topics or methods of study. However, in Uganda a lot of our work has been on malaria, epidemic prone diseases, vaccine trials and of course TB. The results of these studies have not only guided MSF operations but have been used by WHO and other partners in health to formulate or change health policies, including treatment of malaria in pregnancy and treatment of severe malaria in children,’’ Dr. Mwanga enlightened.
During the workshop, a total of 15 researchers from Epicentre and its partners presented their study results on TB diagnostic, model of care to increase pediatric TB detection and reduction in the disease burden, TB chemotherapeutics.
This was aimed at improving diagnostics in adults and children, improve treatment outcomes of the severe forms of the disease by evaluating new TB medicines or modifying current regimen.
The TB research dissemination workshop was graced by officials from Ministry of Health, Institute of Research for Development, EGPAF, Makerere University College of Health Sciences and the General Director of Epicenter Dr. Emmanuel Baron from France.
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