New building in Africa dedicated in honor of Friedman professor

Dr. Frederick Hartman's name will now be known from here to Uganda, and starting next week, Afghanistan too.

The Mukukku Health Center in Uganda announced that their new maternity health wing will be named in honor of Hartman, a professor at the Friedman School of Nutrition.

For nearly six years, Hartman devoted himself to the treatment and prevention of HIV in Africa, focusing on women and children affected by the virus, including the nearly 2 million AIDS-infected orphans. He has spent four years working in Uganda developing a program for the cause.

Now Hartman will travel to Afghanistan and work on international health issues there.

Hartman first traveled to Uganda four years ago -- a visit which led him to deem the nation "the most advanced in Africa" because of its response to the AIDS and HIV epidemic. Hartman said Uganda has been "very proactive in widespread treatment programs."

At one point, nearly 28 percent of the Ugandan population was infected with HIV. This figure is now down to 11 percent. For these reasons Hartman says Uganda has served as a model for AIDS and HIV treatment programs.

During a recent trip to a rural area in Uganda, Hartman said he was disturbed by the disparity between patients in his program and those in more rural areas.

This realization has led him to fight "for a program for rural HIV positive pregnant women." Hartman's program will now also focus help in more rural areas and on the prevention of the transmission of AIDS from mothers to their children.

The Mukukku Health Center was originally built through the support of Plan International, an international, child-focused development organization. At a recent board meeting, the board decided the new maternity wing would be named Hartmans' Wing in honor of Hartman and his wife, a nurse who has aided in his work.

Hartmans' Wing will include an antenatal clinic, delivery room, maternity ward, laboratory and dedicated patient space for pre- and post-HIV testing and counseling.

Dr. Beatrice Rogers, Academic Dean for the school, calls the honor "well-deserved" and said that Hartman "is a committed member of the faculty, and his class is one of our most popular and well-received... We have had public health physicians take it and say that they have learned a lot."

Since beginning his work in Africa, Hartman has received donations totaling $1.2 million -- all used to treat the 600 patients in his program. He is currently looking for an additional $20 million to treat an extra 5,000 women.

He is also considering support for a new learning center with dormitories. This proposed center would serve as a training center where both Tufts and international students alike could continue to learn about prevention and treatment of AIDS and HIV. Hartman plans to continue teaching his Primary Health Care class, despite his globe traveling.

Hartman has spent nearly 30 years in international health care and is a physician trained in infectious diseases and epidemiology. He has been teaching classes in public health at the Friedman School of Nutrition since 1986.