Catherine Kyobutungi

Catherine Kyobutungi (born 1972) is a Ugandan epidemiologist who currently serves as the Executive Director of the African Population and Health Research Center(APHRC) and a Joep Lange Chair at the University of Amsterdam. She was elected to the African Academy of Sciences in 2018.

Quotes

• A bigger problem is the value of research to society, especially to the communities from which the data is collected. Because research is conceptualized without input from African researchers and other stakeholders, it ends up being of academic value only, without taking into account how the results could help shape policy and practice.
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• In addition, the fact that we are an independent research institution, rather than a government-run organisation, makes it harder to forge and maintain long-term relationships with policy makers, especially those in government.
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• am affected by the dysfunction in the global health system whereby problems and their solutions are defined by ‘experts’, who don’t have any lived experiences and who have a poor understanding of the local context.
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• The reason why inequalities persist is because we pay lip service to equity. The sustainable development goals (SDG) framework and its various instruments have equity as a key feature. As a result, equity is prominent in global commitments and national health policy framework – but only on paper.
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• As a researcher, it is much more difficult to make a case as to why certain areas are worth addressing, when the global health community is focused largely on the few pet issues that are deemed worth funding and investigating
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• The gratification from healing someone’s pain or saving a life of someone near death is indescribable. Having said that, Africa needs scientists, tens of thousands of scientists that can help in identifying the problems that cause ill health among the continent’s people, and lasting solutions to those problems.
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