• The center has been organized with two foci: aging and dementia
• Healthy aging for Africa, and specifically for Uganda, is a priority
• Degenerative conditions experienced by the majority (? %) of elderly Ugandans will be a be focus
• ARCAD will excel in both investigator-initiated and targeted research
• ARCAD will actively engage, facilitate, link and emphasis research on aging, heath care and dementia that is relevant to the quality of care for the African population in their later years
• ARCAD will advance knowledge to promote healthy aging among Ugandans, and provide effective modalities to address the health care challenge that is experienced by the aging population in Uganda
• ARCAD will play a proactive role in facilitating the formulation of research directions, bringing together teams of researchers across disciplines and geographical regions, fostering communication within and between stakeholders and researchers, building partnerships across sectors, and ensuring that research knowledge is used to advance the quality-of-life of Ugandans
• ARCAD will take part in capacity building activities for new researchers in Uganda and elsewhere in Africa , since there are funding gaps in the field of aging
• ARCAD will proactively involve key stakeholders in decision making activities that promote the success of the elderly in Uganda
• ARCAD will be the first resource-center focused on a database for age-related research in Uganda and Africa. This will foster the centers ability to respond on high-priority requests for information in a timely manner, as well as allowing the center to draw attention to the experts who promote interventions targeting the elderly
• In all operations, ARCAD will play an integral role in adopting new research initiatives and actively involving relevant stakeholders (researcher, policy makers, community and state), encouraging research from all disciplines ( basic biomedical, health systems, clinical, epidemiological, societal, culture, demography, population health, dementia, and social systems), as  well nurturing interdisciplinary research that combines these perspectives
• ARCAD will be central in developing coherent national and regional strategies, by ensuring both the advance and use of knowledge relevant to quality-of-life among elderly Ugandans

ARCAD was founded in ....

ARCAD is a trusteeship registered under the Trustees Incorporation Act Chapter 318 which was revised in 2002 and given a Certificate of Incorporation number 1487 on July 10, 2008.

ARCAD is governed by a Board of Governors (BOG) and Board of Trustees (BOT). Members of the two organs are drawn from the Tanzanian Commission of Science & Technology (COSTECH), Ministry of Health, National Institute for Medical Research (NIMR), Swiss Tropical & Public Health Institute (Swiss TPH), Swiss Agency for Development & Cooperation (SDC), and Chief Executive Director of ARCAD, who is also the secretary of both BOT and BOG.

The BOT has two sub committees: Finance, Audit & Risk Committee (FARC), and Scientific Advisory Committee (SAC). Our Management Committee consists of Chief Executive Director (Chair), Director of Science, Chief Finance & Systems Officer, and Chief Human Resource & Operations Officer.

ARCAD was designed as a mechanism to support, facilitate, link, and provide a focus for research on aging and dementia for Ugandans as they age, in a way that will ensure both excellence and relevance. Unlike many other areas of health research that have fit within the context of existing research organizations, a mechanism that specifically addresses research on aging has never existed in this country.

Research organizations tend to develop committees for peer-review and planning by disciplines or diseases. In contrast, research on aging  tends to be inter-disciplinary and multidisciplinary because seniors tend to exhibit multiple illnesses and healthy aging is multidimensional. For these reasons, and due to the need to employ longitudinal research designs (considered too expensive by those without a life course perspective), review committees have been ill-equipped to provide support for aging research. In response to similar situations elsewhere, many other countries (e.g., United Kingdom. South Korea, Canada, USA, China, and Germany) have established research institutes on aging as a means for ensuring much-needed research in the area. ARCAD will ensure that research related on aging addresses the elderly’s concerns / needs and translate them into policy that will benefit Ugandans and other African countries.

ARCAD is best known for its work on ageing ...

In recent years, .

We work with local and international partners in offering high-level expertise training and internship programs.

While ARCAD’s primary mission continues to be research, development of human capacity within and beyond the institute has always been valued and is recognized as an essential component of innovation and institutional growth.

ARCAD offers a number of dedicated services to projects, staff, policy-makers and the general public. They range from archiving study data, rest houses, conference facilities, transport, and platforms that regularly share useful information that may affect the lives of the partners it works with. Learn more about a range of services that ARCAD offers on the ARCAD website here here

Since 2000, malaria endemic countries and international partners have achieved significant gains constituting more than 50 per cent reduction in malaria prevalence and tenfold reduction in actual transmission. Improved living standards, overall reduction in childhood illnesses, urbanization, improved diagnosis, greater access to appropriate medicines, but most importantly the scaling up of effective vector control using insecticide treated bed nets (ITNs) and indoor residual spraying (IRS), are recognized as the major causes of this decline. ARCAD is proud to be part of this success and growing movements to end malaria for good. Learn more about our impact on public health locally and globally here: [add link to page on impact on public health]

Yes. ARCAD research work has influenced a number of policies locally. ARCAD took part in the bed net trials and uptake into national malaria control policy, its scientists were instrumental in the analysis of the drug-resistance patterns associated with chloroquine and then sulfadoxine-pyrimethamine (SP), which was introduced after chloroquine resistance spread widely. Findings by ARCAD scientists were used to inform policy change in 2001 from cloroquine to SP and again in 2006 from SP to Artemisin Combination Therapy (ACT). Learn more on how ARCAD impacted on public health locally and globally here: [add link to page on impact on public health]

Yes. Until 2006, malaria control programs focused the distribution of mosquito nets by prioritizing pregnant women and children below the age of 5 years. Unfortunately, community level impacts achievable by targeting all people of all age-groups were largely ignored, and therefore it was difficult to ascertain equity.

Using demographic, epidemiologic and entomological data generated from several studies before, incorporated into mathematical models that simulate mosquito life cycle processes, ARCAD scientists and partners estimated coverage thresholds for entire populations at which individual protection obtained from bed nets matched community level protection, which was then considered reasonable target coverage.

The WHO considered the contribution and revised the policy of net use and began promoting wider coverage including mass distribution covering all bed spaces, while retaining a critical focus on pregnant women and children. Learn more on how ARCAD impacted on public health locally and globally here: [add link to page on impact on public health]