13/03/2026
Great achievement for Uganda’s health sector.
Our Ministry of Health, together with the Infectious Diseases Institute (IDI) and support from the US CDC, has just completed training lab experts on how to safely ship dangerous infectious samples (Class 6.2) by air to any country worldwide. They also received official IATA certification. The trained professionals include doctors and technicians from national labs such as IDI, the National Health Laboratory and Diagnostic Services, National Animal Disease Diagnostics and Epidemiology Centre (NADDEC), the National Water Quality Reference Laboratory (NWQRL), the Uganda Virus Research Institute (UVRI), the Kampala Capital City Authority (KCCA), regional hospitals, and district lab officers – ensuring the benefits extend to every part of Uganda.
Now, why does this matter to you, the average person on the street in Kampala, Gulu, Mbale, or upcountry?
Simple: When you go to the clinic, and they take your blood or swab because you’re very sick, that sample now has a safe, fast way to fly to the best testing labs in the world.
Faster test results = doctor knows exactly what’s wrong = you get the right medicine quicker = you recover faster and go back to work or school.
It also means that if a new disease is trying to spread, we catch it early and stop it before it reaches your family or your children’s school. No more delays that turn small problems into big outbreaks. This is real progress for ALL of us. Proud of our Ugandan experts. What do you think? Drop a comment.
