“I knew I would come to the United States since 1969. I sat in my living room and watched Neil Armstrong land on the moon.” The wonder reappears in his bright eyes. “You see, what you put into a child’s mind will happen.”
Dr. Robert Muhumuza puts this philosophy into action every day.
In 1990, Muhumuza moved to the United States to further his mission to eradicate HIV/AIDS. Already a trained and practicing physician in his native Uganda, he completed his American M.D. at Baylor and earned an MBA from the University of Houston. Now in Baton Rouge, he splits his time as a gastroenterologist, an emergency room physician and an entrepreneur, developing the organization he envisioned in 1986.
Age: 44
Occupation: Physician and founder of SAS Foundation
Hometown: Kampala, Uganda
The SAS Foundation aims to eliminate HIV/AIDS in Uganda first, and then around the globe. The Foundation directors plan to achieve their mission in Uganda through an infrastructure of the current Foundation, the establishment of multiple early-intervention medical clinics and a state-of-the-art research hospital.
The major force driving this initiative, however, is far more ephemeral. Muhumuza is one of those rare visionaries who can simultaneously see the forest and the trees. He has moved beyond the traditional ABC-model of infection-prevention (abstinence, being faithful, correct condom use) and developed the Immunization by Education Strategy (IBES).
Muhumuza agrees the ABC approach was useful when the disease was widespread, but he believes it is ineffective with the remaining pockets of infected individuals. His research uncovered a trend whereby “education was targeted at people when they were already at risk.” Instead of teaching preventive measures to individuals 15 years and up, Muhumuza has developed a system for educating those 0-14 years old.
His two-pronged approach begins with training individuals from within “the clusters” (those living with HIV/AIDS) to be mentors to the local youth. Together, both the mentors and mentees develop patterns of behavior that stop youths from engaging in high-risk behavior, and ultimately prevent them from joining the cluster.
More than 50,000 children are currently being mentored in Uganda through the SAS Foundation, and the global mission is taking hold right here in the Capital City. In 2007, Oasis Christian Church on East Brookstown Drive hosted the first U.S. training session.
Muhumuza is actively recruiting additional donors and partnerships here and abroad. “Success is contingent on finding people who share your vision and will carry it as their own.”
For more information, visit sasfoundationafrica.org.
