Day 2: First day of meetings in Uganda

Monday, August 9 2021

The first real day! We met our new team member Joselyn. Joselyn is excited about the project and intends to do her PhD work on the implementation of our technology in Uganda. She is an expert entomologist with a strong background in public health. She will be critical to the success of these efforts!

We then met with a group called PMI VectorLink. They are funded by USAID et al. and perform important vector surveillance work in several other African countries.

Aside: For those who may not know, vector surveillance is (mostly) the population monitoring of disease-carrying organisms, aka vectors. This information is usually used to implement and monitor interventions against these organisms in order to reduce the spread of disease in humans. In this case, we are monitoring mosquito populations to reduce the spread of Malaria. There are many kinds of mosquitos, and they behave in different ways. For example, one species might lay their eggs only in puddles following a rainstorm while others might only lay their eggs in swampy areas or near a river. Some species prefer to feed late at night in homes while others feed at dusk outside. These behaviors are important when designing programs to control their populations. While indoor residual spraying might be effective against one group of mosquitos, it might be a waste of resources if used against another. Additionally, understanding the populations of local mosquitos can help public health officials anticipate outbreaks of these diseases and preemptively supply the health system to nip the outbreak in the bud. The general idea is that vector surveillance is an important tool in preventing the spread of mosquito-borne diseases.

So PMI VectorLink. They are great! They collect mosquitos from “sentinel sites” across the country and analyze those samples at their central lab. Their representatives gave us very valuable feedback on the design of our device as well as its implementation in Uganda. I’ll freely admit that this meeting was a bit overwhelming for me – between my inexperience with African accents and their deep entomological expertise, I was out of my depth. However, I did manage to pick up some of what they were putting down. We actually took their perspective very seriously and decided to modify our device on the spot to accommodate some of the needs they mentioned. Uganda’s vector surveillance program is a complex system though, and PMI VectorLink only represents a part of the picture. More on that later (wait, how does he know the future?).

We then traveled across the street by van (to save time!) where Joselyn and Winnie introduced us to Dr. Rhoda Wanyenze, the Dean of Makerere University School of Public Health. Makerere is the premier university in Uganda and renowned throughout East Africa. Dr. Wanyenze was very kind to us and offered her full support.

The highlight of my day (sorry Dr. Wanyenze!) was my opportunity to interact with our neighbors, the local troupe of monkeys. They visited us right on the front porch of our guest house! Their curious faces and bouncy nature stole my heart. Dr. Acharya and I took the opportunity to get a little closer, and after my very best attempts at coaxing some even worked up the bravery to take food from my hand! Feeling the monkeys’ fingernails on my palm was transcendental! Well, maybe not transcendental, but truly wonderful. I got to share some of those moments with my sweet babies Las and Roe via video call, which I think they also enjoyed.

Another powerful storm came during dinner. Dr. Acharya and I talked shop and waxed as philosophical as we could against the roar of the rain on the tin roof while we waited for a break to run back to our lodging.

We spent the rest of the evening (and much of the night) working on modifying the prototype according to the input from our PMI VectorLink friends that morning. We broke out the Leatherman and Dr. Acharya carefully sawed away at our 3D print. At the least opportune moment, we lost power and had to switch to a headlamp. Seeing Dr. Acharya cut the prototype to pieces by the light of a torch was a classic CBID moment for me. Pure hustle!

Before bed, a series of un-American (yes, it’s a joke) bathroom circumstances culminated in the truly bizarre situation of - please pardon the run-on and skip ahead if shower scenes are not your thing - me naked minus my velcro sandals kneeling in the bottom of a bathtub (to mitigate the lack of a curtain) pulling the tangles from my wet hair with a brush in my right hand and managing the weak (but warm!) spray from the not-mounted showerhead with my left, whilst knee-dancing to a tinny rendition Rad Flute on repeat (playing from my cell phone lying on the non-functional vanity lamp missing its mirror) and spitting every few seconds in a paranoid effort to prevent the Uganda water from sneaking into my body, all lit only by my headlamp on the windowsill. And it was so fun I was laughing out loud. A fitting punctuation to the day.