In Uganda, HJFMRI has worked closely with the Makerere University Walter Reed Program (MUWRP), an independent nonprofit organization, since 2002. Established to conduct research on HIV in the region, early efforts focused on infrastructure development and study cohort characterization, and soon grew to include evaluations of vaccine and therapeutic products up to Phase 3 clinical trials. A key complement of research activities has been the provision of HIV prevention, care and treatment services under the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR).

Since 2007, MUWRP has broadened their scope of work to address other communicable disease threats, joining the U.S. DOD Global Emerging Infections Surveillance and Response System (GEIS) to support Avian Influenza Pandemic Influenza (AIPI) surveillance. The current MUWRP program supports surveillance of influenza and other emerging infections in animals and humans. MUWRP has also entered into a collaboration with The Joint Mobile Emerging Disease Intervention Clinical Capability (JMEDICC), which will build capabilities to implement an immediate, mobile response capable of conducting U.S. FDA-regulated clinical trials of therapeutic or diagnostic products during an outbreak event.