General
Mak Strengthens Ties with Case Western Reserve University
On Monday, 25th March 2019, over 100 guests gathered at the College of Health Sciences Gardens in Mulago to celebrate the 30 years of collaboration between Makerere University College of Health Sciences (MakCHS) and Case Western Reserve University (CWRU).
Led by the President, HE. Barbara R. Snyder, the visitors from Case Western Reserve University started the celebrations by visiting the office of the Vice Chancellor Makerere University where they held a brief meeting with Prof. Barnabas Nawangwe, College Principals and other University Administrators.
Expressing her gratitude towards Makerere University, HE. Barbara R. Snyder revealed that the 30 years of collaboration are a sign of good relationship between the two Universities and that Makerere University is doing good work in and outside of Uganda and for the good services provided by the University, Case Western Reserve University has a lot of pride in their collaboration with Makerere.
“Our collaboration with Makerere University is growing very fast and its fruits can be seen by the good results it produces,” said HE. Barbara R. Snyder.
The Vice Chancellor Prof. Barnabas Nawangwe noted that Case Western Reserve University is a friend indeed as it came in at the right time when Uganda needed help from people with more knowledge about HIV/AIDS.
“In 1989, Uganda had been hit by one of the world’s leading killer diseases which is HIV/AIDS and by that time, no Ugandan had full knowledge about the fast killing disease and many families lost their loved ones, not until Case Western Reserve University came in to give Uganda a helping hand. You came to Uganda at a time of need, thank you” echoed Prof. Nawangwe.
He noted that MakCHS is playing a big role by being Uganda’s leading Health College as it is addressing real National concerns by providing real solutions to the country’s health problems, “and Makerere being a leading University has a major responsibility of moving Uganda to another level of good performance in all aspects.”
According to the Principal MakCHS Prof. Charles Ibingira, the college started in 1924 as a medical school which was later turned into Faculty of Medicine until 2008 when it was transformed into a College with five schools. These are;
• Makerere University School of Biomedical Sciences
• Makerere University School of Health Sciences
• Makerere University School of Medicine
• Makerere University School of Public Health
• Makerere University School of Dentistry
He also noted that with the vision of beginning a leading and transformational institution for academic excellence and innovation in Health Sciences, the college was recently ranked Africa’s 2nd leading College of Health Sciences and is now aiming at the 1st position. This he attributed to the many collaborations attracted some of which are with Uganda Heart Institute, Uganda Cancer Institute among others.
Prof. Ibingira thanked the President of Case Western Reserve University for working hard with MakCHS to ensure that all programs run smoothly and successfully through her continuous follow-ups and hoped even for more collaboration.
Among the presenters were the Deans of the different Schools of the college. Prof. Rhoda Wanyenze, the Dean School of Public Health (MakSPH) and only female Dean at MakCHS noted that the School’s training includes field placements and hands-on projects integrated into all graduate programs.
She added that the School works hand-in-hand with the Ministry of Health and thanked Case Western Reserve University for training 8 MakSPH staff at both Masters and PhD levels.
The Dean School of Medicine, Prof. Moses R. Kamya, thanked H.E Snyder for maintaining Case Western Reserve University’s partnership with Makerere University and College of Health Sciences in particular and requested that the partnership should extend to the entire Makerere University as well.
Addressing the guests, the Director Makerere University Health Services Prof. Josaphat Byamugisha indicated that MakCHS is keen to develop a University teaching hospital and called for more collaborations to help purchase equipment.
He thanked the University Management for being supportive to the college and expressed his sincere gratitude to them.
“We hold with high regard the research collaboration that we have had for thirty years now as it has synthesized solutions to a number of world problems at large, hence contributing to the wellbeing of our population especially the dedication to the HIV/AIDS pandemic,” concluded Mr. Byamugisha Joseph, College President and Fourth Year student of the Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery.
Article by Rachael Kanyi, Volunteer, Mak Public Relations Office
By Agnes Namaganda
On July 22nd 2022, Makerere University–Child Health and Development Centre (Mak–CHDC) launched a draft manual for the National Parenting Standards. The Centre has been working together with the Ministry of Gender, Labour and Social Development (MGLSD) with funding from UNICEF (United Nations Children’s Emergency Fund), to develop standards that are agreeable to all organisations in the country that are involved in parenting work. The draft manual was being presented to members of a consortium that brings together all these organisations together, called the Parenting Agenda Consortium.
“We produce many documents and they are shelved,” Irene Ayot Chono, who was speaking on behalf of UNICEF said. “We hope that this document will not be one of them,” she emphasized.
Dr. Godfrey Siu, the Principal Investigator from Mak-CHDC who presented the draft manual to participants, emphasized that if any organization is doing parenting work, there should be a minimum package that they should offer.
Draft Manual Content
The manual which will have several modules. These modules will be delivered face-to-face in 1.5 hour sessions. Some of these include; Module 6 which will focus on “understanding responsible masculinity and fatherhood” and on “understanding the concept of head of family.”The draft manual also proposed that Module 11 focuses on Parenting in the 21st Century. Some of the sessions in this module will include Children and Technology, Contemporary Influence on Children and Modernity, Culture and Morality.Module 9 will focus on Parenting for Adolescents and some of the suggested sessions within this module are Needs for Adolescents and The Art of Communicating with Adolescents. Module 5 will focus on Preventing Violent Parenting and Promoting Alternative Discipline Strategies while Module 10 will be about Parenting to Address the Mental Health for Children and Adults.
Participants’ suggestions
After the presentation, participants raised several suggestions for discussion and consideration. These included whether there should be a module on spirituality since Uganda is a strongly religious nation. There was also the concern of how children in remand homes should be parented. Another concern raised by a participant was as to whether teachers who make an undeniable contribution to parenting, should be taken through the parenting manual.
In her closing remarks, Ms. Juliana Naumo Akoryo, the Director of Cultural Affairs at the Ministry of Gender, Labour and Social Development (MGLSD) said that the manual is for the parenting organisations to utilize and not for MGLSD.
Ms. Chono also adjured the team behind the manual to use picture illustrations in the manual that can be relatable by the Ugandan parents.
Contact: Agnes Namaganda – agnesvioletnamaganda@gmail.com
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