After getting a bit settled this morning (with local currency and cell phones), we set out to learn about the latest in public health here.

We went to the US Embassy, where we were hosted by CDC’s mission chief, Dr. Pratima Raghunathan. We had lunch with some team members — they have nearly 50 CDC staff altogether.

This is a very significantly expanded global health presence by the CDC. They told us that CDC has this kind of staff in over 40 countries worldwide.

The funding for this effort comes principally from PEPFAR, the President’s Emergency Program for AIDS Relief, which was begun in 2002 by President Bush, and now continued by President Obama.

After a very good informal briefing, we went to CHUK, the Central University Hospital in Kigali (the acronym is from the French name), where we toured the pediatric HIV/AIDS unit, and met with children and parents. It was very impressive.

If you wish, you can see some of our pictures at www.flickr.com/photos/billroper.

More to come!

This entry was posted on Wednesday, August 10th, 2011 at 12:45 pm and is filed under Global Health, Roper in Africa.

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