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| IN MEMORIAM |
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| Year : 2021 | Volume
: 3
| Issue : 2 | Page : 123-124 |
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Obituary: Fred Kigozi
Juliet E M Nakku1, Roy Abraham Kallivayalil2, David M Ndetei3
1 Butabika National Referral Mental Hospital, Kampala, Uganda
2 Department of Psychiatry, Pushpagiri Institute of Medical Sciences and Research Centre, Thiruvalla, Kerala, India
3 Department of Psychiatry, University of Nairobi, Nairobi, Kenya
| Date of Submission | 14-Aug-2021 |
| Date of Acceptance | 15-Aug-2021 |
| Date of Web Publication | 31-Aug-2021 |
Correspondence Address:
Prof. Roy Abraham Kallivayalil
Department of Psychiatry, Pushpagiri Institute of Medical Sciences and Research Centre, Thiruvalla, Kerala - 689 101
India
 Source of Support: None, Conflict of Interest: None
DOI: 10.4103/wsp.wsp_39_21
How to cite this article:
Nakku JE, Kallivayalil RA, Ndetei DM. Obituary: Fred Kigozi. World Soc Psychiatry 2021;3:123-4 |
Dr. Fred Nsobya Kigozi left us on December 29, 2020, after a short illness. He was born in Wakiso District in Uganda. He was the World Psychiatric Association (WPA) Zonal Representative (Eastern and Southern Africa) for two terms, 2002–2005 and 2005–2008, and served as a member of the WPA Standing Committee on Nominations for the triennia, 2008–2011, 2011–2014, and 2017–2020. He was also very much interested in the affairs of the World Association for Social Psychiatry and in the practice of psychiatry and social psychiatry in his country and the world.
Fred loved his profession as a psychiatrist and specialized in psychiatry in 1979. He became a part-time lecturer in the Department of Psychiatry at Makerere University in 1982. In 1986, he became a consultant psychiatrist at Butabika Hospital and continued to teach at Makerere University. He was appointed Director of Butabika Hospital in 1992, the only psychiatry referral facility then in Uganda. He held this position till 2008. During this time, he also started and led the Uganda Psychiatrists Association as a long serving President of the Association. Due to his stellar performance, Government of Uganda allowed him to continue as Executive Director of Butabika Hospital for 4 more years. At the time, he was also leading a large African Development Bank funded project to rebuild mental healthcare in Uganda. He was at the center of turning around the mental health infrastructure and mass training of psychiatrists, clinical officers, and psychiatric nurses to revamp mental health services. He ably led this massive country wide project till 2012 when he finally retired from public service.
Fred took on several international responsibilities in the field of mental health since the 1980s. He was a faculty member of the International Council of Alcohol and Addiction (1988–1996) and was involved in running courses in alcohol and substance abuse in Eastern and Southern Africa Region. He had spent his retirement life doing mental health systems research as a principal investigator with the PRIME research consortium. This was a multicountry consortium investigating how to feasibly integrate mental healthcare into primary healthcare settings. He had published a number of papers from this work.
Fred had rare personal tributes. He was a very friendly and affable man. Those who had visited him in Kampala have fond memories of his hospitality. He was always a humble and selfless person who went out of his way to avoid the limelight or claim credit for himself. A soft spoken yet a highly focused person, he was a diplomat per excellence. He had always sought and accommodated the views of those who interacted with him. Fred Kigozi was a no-nonsense leader who always strived for perfection. He also created a work environment that many would envy and wish to work in. He had a way with people making everyone feel comfortable and at ease around him. Together with Dr. Frank Njenga in Kenya, Dr. Kigozi was instrumental in the creation of the East African Young Psychiatrists Association.
Dr. Kigozi is survived by his wife, children, and grandchildren. Fred will surely be missed by family, friends, and colleagues. He was loved and respected by senior and junior colleagues in Uganda and abroad. He was a giant in psychiatry in Uganda and the entire Africa region. His memory and contributions to psychiatry will remain forever!
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