THE JOURNEY

As they say, the journey of 1000 miles starts with 1 step!. Trust me, it took me a long time and a lot of courage to get this far. I always wanted to write something but I was always scared because I wanted it as perfect as a cure for malaria. I realised that this will not be possible until I start somewhere and here we go.

While growing up as a child I was fascinated by electronics, I thought one day I would be an engineer, this made me focus on science subjects in high school. The trajectory of my dream changed after high school when a got a government school scholarship to persue BSc. Ed with mathematics and physic as the main subjects. This broke me down a little bit as this was the only way to the Ivory tower (Makerere University). While at Makerere I attended a course unit called biomathematics at undergraduate level, a new dream was birthed out in me. This was to use mathematics to understand the spread of infectious diseases. I realised that third world countries like Uganda don't only need a lot of engineers but also research scientist who could devise sustainable means of stopping the spread of infectious diseases, both to plants, animals and human beings. I graduated as a teacher of mathematics and physics and I was a pundit in that field at that time although I was not satisfied, after several years of working I got another scholarship from the Belgium government. This gave me an opportunity to enrol for MSc. mathematical modelling at Makerere University in Uganda and this was the advent of using mathematics to study the spread of infectious diseases. At that time Uganda had food insecurity issues, where farmers and agriculture organisations where talking about viruses devastating cassava, I went ahead and engaged with the farmers and agricultural officers I learnt that the cassava plant was under attack by cassava mosaic virus (CMV) and cassava brown streak virus (CBSV). The situation was really serious because all varieties of cassava that where selected for resistance against the CMV where susceptible to CBSV. I knew that time had come for me to contribute my enthusiasm to problem. Therefore, I formulated one of the first mathematical model describing the transmission dynamics af cassava brown streak disease and also quantified the cost-effectiveness of the control measure that were employed then. My research showed that control measures employed at that time were not effective and cost effective to the farmer, the work was published in a international journal of mathematical and computational science. I never anticipated that I would do a PhD on whiteflies at that time but then whitefly populations became more serious in the region, an opportunity also availed itself and cassava breeders where on a quest for resistant cassava varieties.

For those reasons above am now doing a PhD at The University of Western Australia with Dr. Laura Boykin focusing on the vector that transmit deadly viruses. I am really fascinated by this work because of its impact to humanity and UN sustainable development goal number 2. Below is a team of dedicated scientists who work hard to make sure that farmers get enough yield of cassava. Until my next post lets keep in touch us.