Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) about The Ugandan Academy for Health Innovation and Impact
Q.What is the Ugandan Academy for Health Innovation and Impact?
A
The Academy is a programme of projects which will be undertaken over the next 5 years with the aim of urgently and patently improving health outcomes for people living with or being affected by HIV and TB. This will be through a range of carefully focused interventions which combine applied relevant research resulting in improved national policy/guidelines, and associated training and systematic ongoing support.
Q. What are the first demonstration projects?
A
The Academy started out with 3 demonstration projects; these are the mhealth clinical management project Call for Life™ which aims to provide adherence support through voice calls or text messages to 3,000 patients at the IDI clinic, the capacity building project including a Masters/PhD/post doc program and the development of open access e-learning content for health care workers in collaboration with the IDI training program, and research about adherence and responses to HIV of patients to ART who have been on treatment for 10 years or more. There have since been eight other projects implemented by eight other organisations with support from The Academy through sub-granting.
Q. How will the Academy build capacity of health care workers and researchers Online?
A
This is being achieved in 2 ways; firstly, through development of open access e-learning materials which will be available on line for health care workers. Secondly, through scholarships to support Masters, PhD and post-doctoral students for research. This year we will be supporting 3 recipients of these scholarships.
Q. How is Connect for Life™ linked to the Ugandan Academy for Health Innovation and Impact?
A
Connect for Life™ is part of Janssen’s long-standing commitment to global public health and to actively help build healthy communities worldwide through innovative and impactful healthcare solutions and partnerships. It is a patient-centric model leveraging partners, local expertise, and available technologies to demonstrate a sustainable public health impact. The Academy is a flagship project of the Connect for Life™ program. The aim of the programme is to sustainably improve disease prevention and outcomes in underserved populations based on local partnership, expertise evidence, by catalyzing initiatives in applied research, capacity building and clinical management.
Q. Who are the key partners?
A
The Ugandan Academy for Health Innovation and Impact was formed after a memorandum of understanding between the following partners: Uganda Ministry of Health, Infectious Diseases Institute, Janssen, the pharmaceutical companies of Johnson & Johnson, as well as the Johnson & Johnson Corporate Citizenship Trust. The Academy is housed within the Infectious Diseases Institute (IDI), Kampala which is an integral part of the College of Health Science at Makerere University.
Q. Who are the Academy Board members?
A
The board is chaired by Professor Elly Katabira, from Makerere University, a past president of the International AIDS society. Prof. Katabira, has previously co-chaired with Hon. Jane Aceng the minister of health in the 19th Parliament.
The Board comprises members from the following stakeholder groups;
- PLHIV representatives
- Academia
- HIV implementing partners
- Janssen representative
- Other funding partners.
Q. How can I or my organization benefit from the Academy.
A
There will be opportunities to apply for scholarships in year 2 and 3. The board will be announcing a call for applications for Ugandan organizations to apply for funding for the next phase of projects in 2016.
Q. How is the Ugandan Academy for Health Innovation and Impact funded?
A
The funding will be provided by the Janssen, the Pharmaceutecal companies of Johnson and Johnson through the Johnson & Johnson Corporate Citizenship Trust using an annual grant application mechanism, and has been defined as 6.7 million USD over the next five years. The Academy aims to be self-sustaining by attracting additional funding over the 5 year period.