The Academic Alliance for AIDS Care and Prevention in Africa is a union of African and Western infectious disease experts that built (in early 2002) the first large-scale HIV/AIDS clinic in Africa for training medical personnel on treatment options, established with support from Pfizer. The construction of the new Infectious Diseases Institute, located at the Makerere University Medical School in Kampala, Uganda, one of the leading medical schools in Africa, is funded by the Pfizer Foundation and operated by the Alliance in partnership with the university. The Alliance is working closely with the Ugandan medical and public health community and will actively seek assistance from the Ugandan Minister of Health, local organizations, the staff and faculty of Makerere University Medical School and Mulago Hospital, the national hospital of Uganda. The institute has already trained 250 doctors from the region in HIV/AIDS care and provided state-of-the-art care for about 8,000 patients. Clinical research will also be conducted.