Francis Miiro

Francis A. Miiro, (2 August 1934 - 30 March 2008), was a consultant obstetrician and gynecologist in Uganda, who served as Professor of Obstetrics and Gynecology at Makerere University School of Medicine and concurrently as senior consultant obstetrician and gynecologists at Mulago National Referral Hospital, the teaching hospital of the medical school.

Background and education
Miiro was born in the Buganda Region of Uganda, on 2 August 1934. He was raised as a Roman Catholic. His parents were the late Maria Nakiwala Nakayima and the late Petero Nsubuga.

He attended Kiziba Primary School for his elementary studies. He then transferred to St. Peter's Boys School, Nsambya where he completed his junior school education (middle school). He then attended Namilyango College where he completed both his O-Level and A-Level studies.

In 1963, he graduated from Mumbai University (at that time the University of Bombay), where he had studied human medicine on scholarship. He obtained a Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery (MBChB) degree from there. Later he undertook postgraduate studies at Queen's University Belfast, in Belfast, Northern Ireland, where he obtained the title of Member of the Royal College of the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists (MRCOG) in 1968. In 1975, Makerere University awarded him the degree of Doctor of Philosophy (PhD).

Career
He was appointed as a lecturer in obstetrics and gynecology at Makerere University Medical School in 1968. He rose through the ranks and became professor in the department of obstetrics and gynecology at the medical school and senior consultant obstetrician and gynecologist the medical school's teaching hospital.

In the 1990s and early 2000s, he was the lead investigator in clinical trials where Makerere University was a study center. The studies established the efficacy of Nevirapine in preventing maternal-newborn transmission of HIV. Miiro and his colleagues were able to demonstrate a 50 percent reduction in perinatal transmission to children born to HIV positive mothers, when the mothers are given a single dose of Nevirapine during labor.

Illness an death
He died on 30 March 2008 at Mulago National Referral Hospital, from pancreatic cancer at the age of 73. He was survived by his wife and eleven adult children and eight grandchildren.