March_eMagazine Volume 39

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OUR PEOPLE, OUR MISSION A Ugandan Student’s Education in the Foil of the COVID-19 Pandemic Part I Written by Abraham Ddungu Matovu Global Health eMagazine March 2022 Medical Student, MakCHS I was in the second year of a five-year course to obtain a Bachelor’s degree of Medicine and Bachelor’s degree of Surgery when the president of Uganda officially aired on television and radio that our beloved country was under attack from an invisible enemy, one that our own gallant army could not defend us from; an enemy that required the populace to retreat from the battlefield in order to survive. The president, his excellency Yoweri Museveni, informed the country that this enemy’s behavior needed to be studied by our professional medical doctors in order to tackle it well. This enemy was the COVID-19 pandemic whose origins are reportedly traced to Wuhan City in China. He thus declared a nationwide lockdown on all political, social, and economic events on March 18, 2020. This meant that all learning institutions were paused to reduce the rate of disease spread. I left the university and headed home to go through the lockdown with my family. A Note from Dr. Sadigh Reflections on 2021 Highlights Nursing Division SARS COV-2 Pandemic and Us Unification Condolences: Paul Farmer Art to Remind Us of Who We Can Be There ensued a cantankerous period of uncertainty as an increased cumulative number of positive COVID-19 tests was reported every day and the death toll only grew higher with the country running short on medical equipment and drugs. This led to extension of lockdowns in bits by the president. It was like a drug prescription that he did not want to force down citizens’ throats, but rather administered it in periods of three weeks, four weeks, two months as per his scientific advisory judgment. I never got COVID-19 but many friends and families were devastated by the viral disease. We were kept out of school for a record seven months! I used this time to read books and venture into a few agribusinesses particularly, coffee and watermelon trading, which was an awesome experience. My watermelon business enabled people to access the craved vitamin C which boosted their immunity. As a medical student, I played a part in sensitizing people in my community of Sembabule district located in central Uganda about the Standard Operational Procedures including the wearing of face masks and social distancing. In October 2020, medical students were allowed back to university by the president as there was a need to train more soldiers for this war against COVID-19, and doctors were the soldiers. I was part of this team that reported to school in October 2020. My academic incarceration by the pandemic seemed to be finished. I was immediately ushered into a new online system of education which robbed the sweet touch of physical studies. We began Zoom lectures as practical sessions became increasingly inaccessible. Through this entire hustle and bustle, I was able to complete the interrupted second year of medical school. Articles of the Month Videos of the Month Announcements Calendar Resources Swan on the Housatonic River (Rose Schwartz) 16
OUR PEOPLE, OUR MISSION Global Health eMagazine March 2022 A Note from Dr. Sadigh Reflections on 2021 Highlights UNIFICATION Ukraine and the lessons of Alexander Herzen Written by Richard Horton Lancet March 05, 2022 Scientists must work towards a more convergent and less divided world—for national as well as human security. Last week, WHO convened a forum to review lessons from research into COVID-19. My task was to identify the challenges to ensuring the best science was published as quickly as possible. The first challenge was that a global pandemic demanded a global science—an international network of scientists able to communicate freely with one another. A second challenge was that global science depends on global trust. And global trust depends on open collaboration with scientists in all countries. Scientists must build trust with other scientists, irrespective of their national origin. We must support one another in the face of often hostile political criticism to provide the most reliable evidence to decision makers. As Herzen wrote “an exclusive feeling of nationality is never productive of good”. Inadvertently isolating Russian scientists and health workers will be self-defeating. Scientists must work towards a more convergent and less divided world—for national as well as human security. Read the article here >> Ukraine and lessons from Alexander Herzen Nursing Division SARS COV-2 Pandemic and Us Unification Condolences: Paul Farmer Art to Remind Us of Who We Can Be Articles of the Month Videos of the Month Announcements Calendar Resources Saint Sophia Cathedral at night - Kiev, Ukraine 17
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