Beyond the Tarred Road
By Edward Bitarakwate
Kampala, Uganda
February 19, 2008

It is the 24th of October, 2007, and a team of ten Foundation staff members are traveling 60 kilometers off-road from Kabarole to Kamwenge in Uganda, to prepare for the establishment of a new prevention of mother-to-child transmission (PMTCT) of HIV program.

Thirty minutes into this one-and-a-half-hour journey, the lead car suddenly comes to a stop. I am in the third car and wonder what is happening up ahead. As is typical of the terrain in this part of Uganda, the dusty and winding road is preventing us from getting a clear view of the lead car.

Something must have gone wrong, I think to myself. And as we edge slowly forward, a huge truck carrying logs comes into view. It had broken down on this treacherous ascent and was blocking the road. We all clamber out of the cars into the cold misty morning weather and contemplate on what to do. Aborting our mission was clearly out of the question; critical services to prevent transmission of HIV from infected mothers to their unborn infants had to be introduced to Kamwenge district.

The video link tells the rest of the story. In it you’ll see various Foundation staff participating in making sure Elizabeth Glaser’s legacy lives on in the remotest places of the world. I shot the amateur video.

Watch the video now.

Edward (left) with Uganda Country Director Willie Salmond.

Dr. Edward Bitarakwate joined the Foundation as a program manager/technical advisor in September 2004. Edward has been practicing clinical and community medicine for the past nine years. His initial professional training was done in Uganda, where he received a bachelor's degree in medicine and surgery (MBChB) from Mbarara University, and a master's degree in pediatrics and child health (MMed) from Makerere University. He attended an HIV/AIDS management course at the Perinatal HIV Research Unit of Witwatersrand University in Johannesburg, South Africa. Shortly before joining the Foundation, he received a master’s in public heath (MPH) from the University of California, Berkeley.

From 2000 to 2003, Edward worked at a pediatric HIV clinic in a regional referral hospital, where his activities included voluntary counseling and testing, providing highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART), treating opportunistic infections, and providing other supportive care to HIV/AIDS child patients and their parents. As a Ministry of Health trainer and regional supervisor, he was also involved in the planning, implementing, and monitoring of prevention of mother-to-child transmission (PMTCT) of HIV programs at a central health facility and its referral region.

Edward is married and loves traveling, sports, and restoring old cars, but enjoys working with children most of all.