UGANDA

Activity

Partnership:

The Sir Albert Cook Medical Library, Makerere University and the Surrey and Sussex Healthcare NHS Trust Library and Information Service.

Timeline history of partnership to 2011

2012 November - Visit by Dr. Maria Musoke to UK - Dr. Musoke was a Guest speaker at the celebration of Phi's 20th Anniversary on 15th November, held at the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists. She also participated at the 2012 NHS Higher Education Conference in London on the 14th November.

2012 November - Workshop on E-learning for Health Information Professionals.  A workshop on e-learning for health information professionals in Uganda/ Ug-AHILA members and Makerere University Library staff will take place on Wednesday 31 October and Thursday 1 November 2012 at Makerere University Library. Co-sponsors were MakLib and Partnerships in Health Information ( Phi ). Funded by the Elsevier Foundation.

In the UK eLearning is being seen as the solution to solving a number of problems related to getting people to attend statutory and mandatory training and continue professional development. In addition in Africa more and more eLearning courses are being delivered via prestigious institutions such as the Open University.

By the end of the two day workshop attendees will be able to :

• Identify correctly the six stages to develop e-learning as per the Training Foundation TAP method. The six stages are analysis, design, storyboarding,, production, implementation and evaluation.
• Produce storyboards for an interactive e-learning module using basic tools such as Power Point.

2012 Visit by Makerere University Librarian and Medical Library Librarian to UK.  Dr. Maria Musoke and Andrew Wabwezi came on a study visit to the UK. They and Masimba Muzinga from Zimbabwe (sponsored by the UK Health Libraries Group, International Libraries and information Group and Phi) were all to have attended the Health Libraries Group Conference in Glasgow. Unfortunately due to bereavement and illness neither of the Ugandan librarians were able to stay for the whole period, but Mr. Muzinga gave a well received presentation at the Conference.

2011 November:  Partnership visit to Uganda - The Albert Cook Library at Makerere University is hosting a visit by Nasra Gathoni (President of the Association for Health Information and Libraries) Mr. Nick Naftalin OBE, FRCOG, (Chair of Phi) Shane Godbolt (Director of Phi) and Ania ⁱNogal  from the London Deanery. They will be facilitating training sessions on Building strong library associations and The Impact of the internet on delivery of healthcare information

2011 July: University Librarian from Makerere University visits UK - Dr Maria Musoke had an action packed visit to the UK from 6th - 16th July. She visited the Open University where discussions took place on the MSc Development Management, Scholarship Programme (in partnership with the Kulika Trust), and the Health Education And Training (HEAT) programme - a project to support the training of community health workers throughout Africa. Other highlights included: 

A visit to the Centre for Evidence Based Medicine, in Oxford

A presentation with Shane Godbolt (Phi) and Gracian Chimwaza (ITOCA) at the CILIP Umbrella Conference 

A meeting in the achievements of the outreach project were described and ways forward discussed with the Uganda partners, Phi Officers, representatives from the Manchester/Gulu link and the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine and representatives from Elsevier, the funders of the project. Read more

2011: Visit to Gulu’s Regional Hospital and University - Donna Schofield, the Library Services Manager for the University Hospital of South Manchester Hospital NHS Foundation Trust, received support and contacts from Phi when she visited Gulu in northern Uganda, where the UK Hospital has a Global Health Link with the Regional Hospital and University in Gulu in northern Uganda.

One of the results of this visit was a decision by the Referral Hospital to create a library for nurses - previously they lacked information resources.

Through Phi, Donna had fruitful discussions with Alison Kinengyere (Serials librarian at Makerere University) and her colleagues Olive Kihika, Sylvia Matovie and Wilberforce Lubowa Musoke representing the Uganda Chapter of the Association for Health Information and Libraries in Africa and the partnership between the Sir Albert Cook Medical Library, Makerere University and the Surrey and Sussex Healthcare NHS Trust Library and Information Service

Information

Partners

The Sir Albert Cooke Medical Library, Makerere University, is one of the seven branch libraries of the Makerere University, Kampala, Uganda. The library holds medical collections of national importance.

The Surrey and Sussex Healthcare NHS Trust Library and Information Service at the Trust aim to provide information to support and enable the highest possible standards of clinical care, direct patient care, evidence based practice, study, management, education, research, innovation, medical audit, clinical governance and health promotion.

Formation and aims of the partnership


Informally established in 1994 and formalised in 2000, under the guidance of Phi, this was one of Phi’s first partnerships. Partners initially focused on the use of emerging satellite technology to provide requested articles to Ugandan colleagues. The partnership then moved to focus on training and outreach by the fostering of education, training and general awareness at Makerere University of the importance and the use of technology and outreach to health facilities in Uganda.

Highlights of past activities and achievements

2010 July: Phi hosted the visit of Alison Kinengyere, Serials Librarian at the Albert Cook Medical Library, Makerere University between 17-28 July 2010.  The visit included: Co-presenting a paper with Shane Godbolt at a conference, Meetings with: Ken-HIP to discuss African Index Medicus, INASP and Maria Cotera and Susan Mahoney to discuss their visit to Uganda as part of the African Prisons Project.

2010: Phi support - Maria Cotera and Susan Mahony have been advising the African Prisons Project on all aspects of development of its library activity including its operations and management of staff. Funding for Maria Cotera’s air fare was provided Phi. 

2010 Proposal to Elsevier - The partners successfully secured funding to delivery a three-year project aimed at increasing access to health information for health workers in rural Uganda and providing practical training sessions for community health problem solving.

2009 March: Potenza Atiogbe and Robert Shimield (UK partners) to Makerere University, Uganda to support changing of the Albert Cook Library website to a content management site and provide training for members of staff. 

2009 August: Public Access to Health Information Workshop. Kampala - The Ugandan partners assisted with and participated in a Phi/IFLA/FAIFE Public Access to Health Information workshop in Kampala. Read more.

2009: Two UK partner librarians visited Uganda to work with staff at the Albert Cook Library to develop the library website and update the Uganda Health Information Database in order to be able to disseminate health information more widely

2006-2009: with funding from the British Council the Albert Cook Medical Library was able to carry out a three-year project on enhancing access to health information. Activities included the provision of training, and learning opportunities and support for website development. 

2002 to 2005: the partnership received funding from the British Council’s Higher Education Links Scheme to introduce an information literacy programme for medical students and promote information services to provincial health centres. 

Links and resources

The Albert Cooke Medical Library