Abstract

Initial support by the British Empire Cancer Campaign in Uganda led to the description of Burkitt Lymphoma and subsequently to the establishment of the Uganda Cancer Institute (UCI). The Uganda Cancer Institute was established in 1967 as a result of a collaboration between Makerere University, the Ministry of Health and the US National Cancer Institute. It was established as a treatment centre for the then recently discovered Burkitt Lymphoma, and was expanded in 1969 to cater for all cancer. The Institute participated in the seminal initial studies on combination chemotherapy. However, years of political turmoil led to a steady decline in care, research and training. Over the past ten years, the UCI has been building capacity to address the cancer care gap and here we describe some of the steps taken towards this effort. The Institute has expanded clinical care capacity, increased human resource capacity and is currently building a cancer research and innovation facility. The Institute is undertaking high quality research and here we describe how our model could also serve other developing countries in building capacity for cancer care and research to address the growing burden of cancer in LMI Cs.