
Dr. Samson Wamani (left), first Abayudaya community member to graduate medical school, pictured with other conference attendees.
The 25th Annual Conference of the Network Towards Unity for Health, held between September 15-20 2007 in Hotel Africana Kampala was officially opened by the prime minister of Uganda Prof. Apollo Nsibambi. The theme of the conference was Human Resources for Health: Recruitment, Education and Retention. Other guests who attended the opening ceremony included the Minister of Health Dr. Malinga, the Vice Chancellor of Makerere University Prof. Luboobi, the Dean of Makerere University Medical School Prof. Sewankambo and the deans of other medical schools in Eastern, Central and Southern Africa.
This was the first time the annual conference was held in Uganda. Other countries that participated in the conference included Australia, Austria, Bangladesh, Belgium, Bolivia, Botswana, Brazil, Canada, Colombia, Egypt, Ethiopia, France, Germany, Ghana, India, Indonesia, Islamic Republic of Iran, Israel, Italy, Kenya, Malaysia, Mali, Mexico, Mozambique, Nepal, Netherlands, Newzealand, Nigeria, Pakistan, Republic of Congo, Republic of South Africa, Rwanda, Spain, Sudan, Sweden, Uganda , United Kingdom, Tanzania, USA, Yemen, and Zambia.
Dr. Wamani found the following workshops benficial for his community:
• The use of non-financial incentives for health worker retention in east and southern Africa
• The role of women in primary health care
• Selection, retention and motivation of village health volunteer educators
• Building sustainable intervention in primary health care programs
• Integration of public health and integrated approach in prevention
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