The Dean of Makerere University School of Public Health ( MakSPH), also CTCA Director, Prof. William Bazeyo has assured the African Capacity Building Foundation (ACBF), that CTCA, has the capacity to support African governments implement tobacco control strategies as per the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control ( FCTC).
Prof. Bazeyo was on August 18, meeting a team from ACBF together with the CTCA staff at his office in Mulago. The ACBF team is in Uganda to appraise the Centre before signing off a grant agreement for the CTCA for the next phase of operation.
Prof. Bazeyo revealed that CTCA is proposed to become a bigger and more strategic Centre, adding that the MakSPH and College of Health Sciences Board has approved three centers to be under the proposed College of Public Health. One of the sanctioned Centers under the proposed arrangement is the Centre for Drug Abuse and Tobacco Control, a scheme yet to be presented to the University senate.
The delegation from ACBF which included the Senior Program Officer, Claude Sinzogan and the Budget & Finance Officer, Mekonnen Girma Mekasha said that ACBF’s strength is in Institutional Strengthening, adding that they are looking forward to working with the Centre to attain a tobacco free Africa.
CTCA Manager, Dr. Possy Mugyenyi highlighted CTCA’s achievements over the last three years. He stressed that the Centre has not only built the required tobacco control capacity to support governments, but that it has also become credible among African governments and other Tobacco Control Partners in the region.
Dr. Mugyenyi noted that in the next phase, CTCA will operate in five new countries but maintain its presence and provide minimal support in the original five countries to sustain the momentum created in the first phase.
July 31 2014 marked the end of CTCA’s first phase of operation supported by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation (BMGF) through WHO. In the next phase, BMGF will fund the Centre through ACBF, while WHO will continue to provide technical assistance to the Centre.