The COVID-19 pandemic has affected all regions of the world causing enormous health, economic, and social impact. Overall, an increase in the number of COVID-19 cases continues to be reported in various countries with no indication that the peak of the outbreak has been reached.

Established in 2013, The Uganda UK Health Alliance is a collaboration between the UK and the Ministry of Health, Uganda to support UK derived programs in the health sector whilst fostering shared learning between the two health systems.

The Alliance recognises that UK and Uganda are at different stages of the pandemic. There is, therefore, an opportunity for institutions and individuals at the forefront of the outbreak to share knowledge and mount collaborative efforts in addressing the pandemic in Uganda and the UK. It is against this background that the Alliance organised a joint webinar on 23rd April 2020 where experts and participants from Uganda and the UK shared experiences and knowledge on collective measures to address the pandemic in the countries.

The objectives of the webinar were;
• To enable shared learning on the COVID-19 pandemic between Uganda and the UK.
• To foster institutional collaboration on COVID-19 response between the two countries.

The webinar was chaired by Prof. Nelson Sewankambo – Professor of Medicine Makerere University College of Health Sciences and Advisory Board Member Uganda UK Health Alliance. It was attended by over 300 participants mostly from the UK and Uganda.
The key areas of discussion included response measures in both countries and recommendations were made on building the capacity of individual health systems whilst strengthening global health collaboration in the fight against the pandemic.

We are grateful to Prof Rupert Jones the Co-Director, Makerere University Lung Institute for the technical input in the structure and content of the webinar.
Our appreciation goes to different government agencies from both the UK and Uganda that included Public Health England, Health Education England, and the Ministry of Health-Uganda for participating and sharing their expertise. We thank the very insightful and knowledgeable team of panelists from the different institutions who made the discussions very in-depth and interesting.
Most importantly, we appreciate the over 300 participants who spared time to listen in, challenge, and contribute during the discussion.