HIV IN UGANDA: Prof. David Serwadda Breaks Down the Origin and the Victory Against the Epidemic

For more than four decades, scientists have tried to understand one of the most devastating diseases in modern history HIV/AIDS. In this episode of Talking Science Africa, we sit down with renowned public health researcher David Serwadda, Emeritus Professor at Makerere University, who shares the extraordinary story of how HIV was first identified in Uganda. From the early 1980s at the Uganda Cancer Institute in Kampala, Professor Serwadda was among the pioneering scientists who began investigating a mysterious illness that was causing unusual cases of Kaposi’s Sarcoma. What began as medical curiosity soon led to groundbreaking discoveries about HIV/AIDS including some of the first documented cases in Uganda. In this powerful conversation, he takes us back to the moment when researchers connected the strange illness known locally as “Slim Disease” in Rakai District to HIV. Serwadda was among researchers that co-authored a paper in The Lancet which confirmed HIV in Uganda in 1985. He describes how early investigations were funded out of the researchers’ own pockets, how blood samples were sent abroad for testing, and how the findings were eventually published in the prestigious medical journal The Lancet. Professor Serwadda also reflects on the devastating impact HIV had on communities in southern Uganda families wiped out, child-headed households emerging, and entire villages living in fear of a disease they did not yet understand. This episode explores: • The first scientific evidence of HIV in Uganda • Why early cases were concentrated in Rakai • How the disease became known locally as Slim • The role of war, migration, and trade in spreading HIV • The early myths and beliefs surrounding the disease • Uganda’s journey from denial to becoming a global example in the fight against HIV If you want to understand the history of HIV in Africa, the science behind the epidemic, and the courage of the researchers who uncovered it, this is a conversation you cannot miss. Watch, learn, and join the conversation as we translate complex science into knowledge everyone can understand. #HIV #TalkingScienceAfrica #PublicHealth #Uganda #HIVAIDS #ScienceAfrica #MakerereUniversity #GlobalHealth #MedicalHistory