KAMPALA, Oct 20 (AFP) - A state of the art facility to annually train 250 specialists from across Africa in the treatment, training, research and diagnosis techniques in HIV/AIDS opened in Uganda on Wednesday.
The 15-million-dollar (11.9-million-euro) Infectious Disease Institute (IDI), one of the largest in the region and funded by Pfizer, will be a major centre for training health practitioners in advanced HIV/AIDS management techniques especially in managing Anti Retroviral (ARV) therapy.
"The IDI marks a dramatic advance in addressing the public health needs of sub-Saharan Africa," Pfizer's chief executive, Hank McKinnell, told the opening ceremony that was presided over by Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni.
Pfizer, a renowned world pharmaceutical company, has contributed over 15 million dollars to the establishment of the institute that is just adjacent to Uganda's main referral Mulago Hospital, the hospital for Makerere University's school of medicine.
"We are confident that our vision for the IDI will further strengthen this institution of medical education in Africa and that the training initiative undertaken will ultimately result in improved care for millions of patients," McKinnell added.
Up to 8,000 patients, 3,000 of whom are children, have been registered and handled at the hospital, which has a capacity to attend to an average of 300 patients per day.
It will have a capacity to support 50,000 patients per year, who will benefit from enrolment in clinical research studies, the head of the institute, Professor Keith McAdam, said.
The project brings together leading academic physicians from North America and Africa to face the challenge of the HIV/AIDS pandemic.
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